Thursday, April 6, 2023

Six German News Stories

 1.  Yesterday, I was reading a piece out of the Hamburg area....with the KITA people (German kindergarten)....they had this issue brewing.  For whatever reason, they had some young 4 and 5 year old 'lads' who were telling the female KITA folks that they (Muslim lads) could not take orders from a woman (even a German female).   All the reporters said....was that this was a growing issue, and parents (probably the fathers, I would guess) would be dragged in and given the respect-female-authority.

What I found interesting with the German language classes I've taken (here in the Mainz and Wiesbaden area)....probably 75-percent of instructors were female, and they weren't the type to back down....so this BS wasn't going to occur in the class.

2.  It's not front-page news, but Focus brought up the fact that Putin has now moved air defense weapons....around his Crimea-region 'mega-mansion'.  A reasonable target?  Well....I can think of forty better targets.

3.  Focus laid out an interesting trend.....in-country passenger flights....38-percent less people flying.  All they can say is that people felt guilt of some type for carbon issues.  I'm not that convinced but it makes the pro-environment folks feel 'happy'.

4.  Focus had a interview with a energy company CEO who got into the topic of heat pump installation.  His best guess....in a single year presently, Germany might be able to reach 500,000 installations.  

5.  Green Party now pushing agenda on eliminating all evening flights in Germany from 10 PM to 6 AM.  As well...they want all flights of 500 km to be curtailed and eliminated.  They aren't just talking about public flights here.....they also mean privately owned jets.  

Killing off Frankfurt minor flights?  Yes, to a great degree....you could forget about Frankfurt to Munich, Frankfurt to Berlin, or Frankfurt to Hamburg.  

A Munich to Berlin railway trip....takes 4.5 hours, while the airline flight is 65 minutes (add an hour of security/bag-drag on to the top of that).  I suspect most Germans would say for nine months out of the year, the rail trip might be acceptable....while in the summer months with potential crappy AC on trains....it's a pretty miserable trip. 

6.  WELT carried a front-page piece....new goal of the German Army is to have 203,300 full-time soldiers.  Current strength?  183,000 and on the decline.

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