Four Things You Notice

 1.  Last night on the public forum show 'Maischberger' (ARD, late)....they did a interview session with Chancellor Scholz (him alone....with the moderator).  You can view it here (about an hour).

I'd say you got three things out of it: First, blah-blah-blah-the-coalition-running-perfect. Second, some insight into the Putin war (as if you didn't have insight already), and third...selling the home-heating-and-heat-pump agenda.

I'm not going to say it was a success or failure, but someone in the government needs to stand up and sell whatever the coalition is doing....as a success.  The public TV guys are doing a crappy job at selling this, and presently....I'd suggest that more than a third of the public just laughs over the gimmicks being presented.

The fact that Scholz isn't a great salesman?  Well.....everyone knew this prior to the 2021 election.  It's nothing news.

2.  The French cops shooting that 17-year-old kid?  I'd say on a scale of one-to-ten.....it's probably a twelve on my scale of stupidity.

3.  N-TV this AM (commercial news network in Germany) had a piece where they interviewed some political expert....saying one way to halt the AfD success in eastern Germany...is to have the CDU Party (Merkel's old right-of-center party) partner up with the Linke Party (far left).

I sat there and contemplated this.  If you attempted any such gimmick....probably at least a quarter of all CDU voters across the country would walk out and quit the party.  I couldn't believe that the expert contemplated this type of solution.

4.  I noticed this off N-TV in the AM......the German mineral/bubbly water folks have grown their business ten times over....in the past 50 years.

I sat and contemplated my own water drinking for the past decade....it's probably 98-percent from some bottle that I bought at the grocery.  Other than using tap water for making coffee or tea....I don't use it.  

I admit the switch, but will also admit.....bottled water has a better taste than from the tap.  

Just in the local grocery, I bet there are at least sixty different water variations on the shelf at present.  Some come all the way from southern France and central Italy.  

Five German News Stories

 1.  Focus discussed the gov't plan to protect people from summer heat.  Part of the agenda will be ensure public water 'stations' exist....for homeless people to drink water.

Free sunscreen dispensers are also being discussed.

2.  What is this Paris 'burning' business about?  French cops (two of them, a video of the incident exists) stopped a car drive by a young guy (black, 17 years old).  Basically to see his papers....but oddly, they had their gun drawn.  He assumed they were done and took off....they reacted...firing a round or two....killing the kid.

Riots started up....cars were set on fire.  

3.  On this building energy law (still in draft form)...it appears that some wording will give continued life to heating a home with oil.  Presently....around 25-percent of German homes are heated by oil.

4.  I noticed via WELT.....the number of Germans exiting the country in 2022 was 270,000.  As they point out....a number of these people have skills and talents that you can't readily replace.

5.  Nation-wide train strike for next Tuesday planned.  

Three Interesting Stories

 1.  There's a German-Danish company aiming to build two islands up in the North Sea....to produce a huge amount of electrical power.  Decades to build?  I'd suggest a minimum of two, and by the story on Focus.....you can figure four to five billion Euro involved in the construction of two. 

Production of power?  By what they figure....enough to replace 300 nuclear power plants (300 GIGA-watts).

Enough for both countries?  Well.....yeah.  It'd certainly in the range of that.  If you added wind-generation and solar power....you'd probably be selling to other countries.  

2.  Wagner group ending up dismantled?  Well....if go and examine most of the commentary today, no one sees Wagner really existing by the end of the year.  It would appear that Putin now realizes that some wild guy controlling 20,000 folks (even in the Russian Army) would be able to seize power in a matter of 24 hours.  It wouldn't shock me if most end up in Europe and asking for asylum.

3.  This missile defense deal for Germany?  There will be three bases created...first at Holzdorf (far north)....construction won't start until fall of 2025.  Other two bases will be in center eastern region, and one in Bavaria. 

Early Occupation

 It's an interesting story which rarely gets told.

When WW I ceased (mid-November 1918)....the war wasn't really over, and things more or less went into a occupation status.

This occupation by British, French and American troops?  It went onto June of 1930.....oddly as they exited....within three months....the 1930 national election was called, and Hitler's Nazi Party came in 2nd place (18-percent of the vote). 

What was occupied?  The western side of the Rhine....top to bottom.  

When the eventual treaty was wrapped up....there was a written clause which said a occupation would go for 15 years (meaning they weren't supposed to leave until 1934).

What drove the occupation?  Mostly to prevent German forces from invasion theatrics, and pushing Germany into a reparations situation.

The Americans in this period?  In early 1919.....the force was at 250,000 and the headquarters for the American presence was in Koblenz (using the old Fortress).  This force would be called the AFG (American Forces in Germany).  Strength?  20,000.

In early 1923, the US passed legislation to leave.  

The French and British stayed on.

One can ask the question....if they'd stayed until 1934....would it have changed the Hitler dynamics, but it's guesswork situation.

Rules Are Rules

 This afternoon....watching news from the state of Thuringia....there's this odd development.

I talked about this district election from Sunday.....runoff...AfD guy and a CDU guy.  AfD guy won the race.  

Well....they have something written into state law that requires a 'democracy check' by some state administrative function.

Basically, the state can review a person elected and then say that by state law....if the person cannot guarantee 'free democratic basic order within the meaning of the Basic Law and the state constitution'.....then they are 'skipped' and the next guy is reviewed.

If this review results in the AfD guy tossed....I would imagine there's going to be a big stink, and you just gave more attention to pump up public 'anger'.

If the guy were a half-wit, mafia-member, or crack-head....then I could understand the review.  But since the election wrapped up, and if you were to toss the guy now.....why even bother having the election this past Sunday?

My general belief?  The guy's character will come up and if he hasn't been arrested for anything, or shown some tendency to be crazy....nothing much will happen.

To be truthful....if you went and reviewed all mayors of Germany and district managers....you would probably find at least 2-percent who are alcoholics or a bit nutty.  But no one seems to really care about that.  

Two Interesting Things

 1.  From that ATM blow-up episode in Frankfurt from last week....four of the five folks have been captured.

Oddly, these four are all Dutch citizens.  Yeah....no German participation.

Then the charges came up early this AM....among the robbery charges....attempted murder will be filed on the four.  If you add up everything, if convicted....it's a minimum of 15 years in prison.

The reason why the attempted murder got into the mix?  The building also is an apartment building.

2.  Down in Karlsruhe over the weekend....some lifeguard was attempting to shutdown the pool (7:30 PM) and all hell broke loose, with him being seriously assaulted.  Cops had to be called.  Mixed group of men and women in the attack.

Lets Talk About the 1930 German Federal Election

 As the 1929 bank fallout progressed....the German government was forced to take actions to make the NY banks happy over the reparations loan that they'd take....to pay off the French, Americans and British (1925 bank loan).

In simple terms....this moment in history collapsed the German government.  The coalition government (run by the SPD) had an election mandate going back to May 1928, and was supposed to last until May 1932.  

To get over the 'hump'...the President of Germany invented a 'power' out of thin air, and gave the SPD (without its coalition help) to get over the bank problems.  

Public criticism?  This was at a maximum level.  You can blame the loan itself, or the fix that the SPD got into....but across the nation....folks were frustrated at the economic 'fall' going on, and blame was going around.

September 1930....came the next election.

Results?  The SPD took a slight loss in seats (getting 143 of the 577).

The Nazis?  They didn't just double or triple....they went from the 1928 position of twelve seats....to 107.

Forming a coalition....with the Communist Party sitting in 3rd place (13-percent of the votes)?  

If you go back to look at comments....a lot of people felt that a SPD-Communist Party coalition (after the SPD partnered with the Nazis) would occur in the next election.  The Communists?  They pretty much felt Nazi voters would leave after they saw mostly failures in government.

By spring of 1932....this coalition was deemed awful fragile, and ineffective....so the next federal election was rigged for the summer of 1932 (way ahead of schedule).

What you can generally say is that from 1929 on....politics at any level...was stumbling around and not showing any public satisfaction.  The public spiral?  'Send-a-message' seems to be more of a priority than anything else.

The end of WW I, the reparations, and the bank loan deal....connected to all of this misfortune?  I'd strongly suggest that.

Heat Pump Law Draft?

 The German Bundestag is up to the final days before summer vacation, and the last draft of the heat pump law has been produced.

Passed before vacation?  Lot of chatter, but it doesn't appear positive.

Hard to say if there is national public enthusiasm for the heat pump agenda.  News media is avoiding public polls on this. 

The odds that the agenda will be passed, then get challenged in court....to be thrown out or forced to be 'undone'?  I'd give it better than a 50-percent chance.

Five German News Stories

 1.  The heat plan? Through all these years in Germany....there never had been what I'd call a national plan for a 'hot-day'.  The SPD Health Minister has gone out and drafted up a national plan.  They talked about it yesterday.

Somewhere in the quotes....they wanted people to know that at 42 C (107 F)....people die.  I sat and pondered over this....having lived in Arizona and experienced a 47 C (117 F) day.  It's bad but if you just drink liquids and stay out of the sun....you survive. 

So what are the key elements of this plan?  It mostly revolves around a SMS to be broadcast via cellphones (call it an alert), a heat mandate required for new buildings where the room temperature shouldn't go above 25 C (a bit ridiculous I thought), and use of public buildings with AC for folks.

Is this a serious problem?  There's no doubt that somewhere over the 100-days of summer....somewhere between a thousand and two-thousand people get heat exhaustion....without realizing it.  In this case, an hour into this....being 'stupid'....you could put your life at risk if you don't take some minimum action.

2.  Putin has basically given the Wagner folks a choice.....you wear the uniform of Belarus, or Russia.  No more mercenary action.  No idea where this goes.  Will they get paid by Wagner standards?  No one really says that.

3.  A fair amount of time spent by public TV (ARD/ZDF) last night in explaining this district election in Sonneberg (eastern Germany) where the AfD guy won in the run-off against the CDU guy.  Odd thing that you notice in this....only around 60-percent of the residents of the town showed up to vote.  I would suggest a fair sum of Linke Party, SPD and FDP voters....didn't show to help the CDU guy.

Another piece of the story....trying to say that so many people in this town are far-right wing.  Historically (especially in the 1930 and 1932 national elections that brought the Nazis into power)...you see Germans disgruntled with the coalition government, and they vote in this method to 'send-a-message'.  I suspect that a fair number of people in this town fell into the disgruntled frame of mind. 

4.  Focus had a short piece talking about artificial intelligence, and how German gas companies are hooking up the system to reset gas prices....based on AI advice.  Locally, I'd say at least six times a day....gas prices go up and down.....based on years of survey and cost analysis.  

5.  Some analysis over the brigade movement to Lithuania (permanently).  It might be three years before this occurs....manpower issues exist today, and the Bundeswehr needs to resolve this first. 

New Technology

 I ended up in Wiesbaden today....having to park the car in a park-haus.  Normally, you'd pull up...hit the button...out would come a paper ticket, and the arm would rise to allow you to enter.

Well....the technicians were wrapping the new entry.

There's a camera as you enter, and it reads your license plate....then the arm rises. No paper-ticket.

At the end of your walking trip....you return to a screen box....type in your license plate, and it says the amount you owe.....you pay that (no paper ticket) and when you reach the exit point....a second camera reads your plate and allows you to exit.

Pretty nifty I must admit.  

The 4,000 Bundeswehr Placement In Lithuania?

 It came out this AM in Germany that a plan is being worked....that on a permanent basis....4,000 German Army members would be stationed there in Lithuania.

The chatter mostly at this point?  A 'robust-brigade' would be placed there.  No one says a year-by-year deployment or a 3-year deal.  I'm guessing a new brigade would be created, and you'd deploy for a year at a time.  

This already discussed with Lithuania?  It would appear so.

To put this into comparison?  Lithuania is about 3 times the size of Hessen.  Most of Lithuania being rural or small villages?  Yeah.  

A lot of Lithuania folks having a Prussian/German background?  Yeah, that is one odd part of their history.

Seven German Laws I Expect Within Five Years

 1.  Gas mowers to be forbidden to be sold (as new).  

2.  Wine bottles to be regulated and forced to be 'returnables'.

3.  Ice cream trucks/van....to be outlawed.

4.  A sugar tax to be implemented.

5  A knife confiscation tax (probably 1,000 Euro) to occur in public quarters (unless of course you are a cook or butcher). 

6.  A 40 Euro 'safety-and-security' tax to occur at soccer stadiums to pay for police protection (for a single seat).

7.  A private swimming pool tax to be implemented (probably in the range of 200 Euro per year). 

Three Odd Things From The Coup Yesterday

 1.  There are actually American baseball games that last longer than the coup attempted in Russia.

2.  At least one Russian plane and two helicopters were shot down by the Wagner folks, and no one seems to say much about that part of the story today.

3.  Depending on how much value you put into it.....some claims of 20,000 people packing up quickly in Moscow and exiting the city by mid-afternoon.  No real proof of this, and you have to wonder....if you did leave suddenly, where would you drive to...to be safe?  

Final note: I bet at least twenty movie-script writers are sitting down today and working up some draft script (sixty pages) to flip into some Hollywood movie for 2024.  Who'd play Putin?  I'd suggest Nicolas Cage.  

Boat License Chatter in Germany

 As long as the boat you enter/control is less than 15 hp and not bigger than 20 meters....you don't have to have a license.  I should also note....the 'boat-captain' has to be a minimum of 16 years old, and by German law....is supposed be of sound mind, body and soul (yeah, they actually write soul into the law text).

After that point (the bigger engine or longer boat), you need the state license (the inland boat pilot's license). 

Typically, the course is two days, and you get a 30-question multiple choice quiz to pass (you can get prior to the test....the test-bank of 300-odd questions that they will draw the quiz from).  So it's not that hard or difficult.

A difference between the regular boats and sail boat?  Yes, so it's a different license.

Interesting Discussion Over Freedom Of Speech/Press

 Apparently....German journalists woke up in the past week or two...to realize that the LKA (the Bavarian State Police) had a signed paper from a state judge.....back in the fall of 2022...to start listening in to phone calls of Last Generation activists.

Yeah, and so the DJV (the Journalists Association) are all hyped....saying it's not right and the press should be respected.  They want some political involvement (nationally).

I surveyed this discussion.

At the point in 2022 where the courts began to identify Last Generation activists as a criminal organization....you could see the writing on the wall that listening into conversations would immediately start up.  How the journalists 'missed' this?  It just begs the question....how stupid are you?

Yeah.....Bavarian police are treating Last Generation just like a mafia or criminal organization.  If you haven't grasped this by now....you seem to missing the entire landscape.

Every time that the activists call Oma or their cousin....the call was registered and filtered to some database.  

The amusing thing?  Well....if the journalists were really stupid and getting advance information about the next protest....so that they'd gleefully be there with a camera crew....so were the cops. 

My general take?  The Last Generation folks may eventually realize that talking to the journalists in some secret way....probably isn't going to help the cause much, and just get the police deeper into your operations.  

Five German News Stories

 1.  One odd thing you notice about the little Russia coup story....if you browse around...a fair number of Wagner mercenaries didn't participate with the convoy or coup.  I don't know the number (it might be 10-percent....it might be 50-percent).  

Looking at descriptions...this convoy that headed toward Moscow probably didn't exceed more than 10,000 folks.  

Just odd how this whole thing played out.

2.  In that local district election (runoff actually) in Sonneberg (eastern Germany)...the AfD guy won (five points) over the CDU guy.  Lot of public TV criticism over results....lot of hype going on.

Oddly, the SPD, Linke Party and Greens....asked their folks to come out and vote for the CDU guy, and it didn't help.

One aspect that I did notice...the guy running doesn't seem to be a nutcase or far-right extreme....so he may have convinced locals of various issues existing and people crowded under that 'tent'.

3.  The draft self-determination law is evolving.....yet to pass.  It would allow you....once a year....to change your gender.  Presently, with the wording....you'd just walk in and verbally note your change (zero proof) and then you'd be officially a different gender.

Oddly, German lesbian groups and women's right's activists....aren't that happy about the way it's worded and putting up a fuss.

If you wanted to change gender daily or weekly?  You won't get that opportunity in Germany.  If you asked me how the public feels?  There's rarely polls on this, and I would suspect more than 50-percent of the country would ask if you really need to change gender?

4.  At some point yesterday, between Zurich and Berlin....the #79 ICE train (high-speed)....halted.  Train runs off electrical connection.  Apparently, something defaulted and crapped-out.

No AC?  Yeah, and this became an extreme emergency in less than an hour.  After one person passed out....the train folks agreed to open the doors (I doubt that really helped).  They ended up bringing a 'rescue-train' up to the next of this train and hauled them to the next station.  

5.  Some weird episode unfolded Saturday night at the Baumholder US Army Post entrance (gate).  So far, the story goes that some 23-year-old Army guy arrived and got into an argument....with the two civilian security guards.  They eventually pulled a pistol on the guy, and a shot was fired (hitting the guy in the leg).

Both the Americans and local/regional German prosecutor are investigating the episode.

What the argument was about?  No one says.  I'm guessing alcohol was part of the issue, but it's purely speculation.  

If you went back to the 1970s....it wasn't uncommon for the gate-guards to have billy-clubs and whack anyone who seemed to be acting 'funny'.  I haven't seen a billy-club in 30 years though.  

Weed Chatter

 For a number of months, legalization of cannabis has been openly discussed around Germany.  While some communities are just waiting for the draft to pass in the Bundestag.....a couple of major urban areas have been aggressive and wanted to be a 'model-community'..

What this meant?  Well....you'd get the first 'out-of-the-gate' permission to open up cannabis shops.

Frankfurt was on this path.

So the city had conducted a survey....to get 'feelings' from the general public.  

Somewhere yesterday....in Frankfurt, the results of the survey were laid out, and a problem was put on the table.  Apparently....a fair number of the survey results were manipulated.

What it appears like?  Well....someone got ahold of the original survey, copied it, and then inserted their own responses (say from the 10,000 sent out....an extra 500 came in).  

Then the guys responsible for this....the 'Red Kiffer Faction' (yeah, that's what they call themselves)....confessed.  

I don't think the cops care, and it's questionable if fake surveys are a crime.

Validity?  Yeah, that's questioned now.

To be honest....I think if you just walked around the city and asked folks between 18 and 40....probably a quarter of them smoke weed at least once a week.  

Reality?  I'd say by early spring of 2024...legalization will be done, and legal weed will be sold in Germany.  The end of weed dealers?  No one really suggests that.  That didn't happen in Colorado.

What's With The Traffic Reform Chatter?

 Basically, at the national level....it's been agreed upon that tempo-30 (meaning urban areas can be easily regulated to a max of 30 kph instead of 50 kph) will be the norm.

If you read through all the rule changes....the fed guys are handing the responsibility of speed management, creation of bus and bicycle lanes....over to the local folks to manage themselves.  

No one is saying that all of Frankfurt or Wiesbaden will be 30 kph....just that various areas will go down in speed.

I should note here...if you venture into the inner-part of Mainz....it's been maxed to 30 kph for about a year.  I'd take a guess that more than 80-percent of the city is a max of 30 kph at present.

My only negative?  In the case of Mainz....they quickly went and added blitz cameras (I won't suggest double, but it's definitely a noticeable thing now), and you have to pay a lot of attention to traffic.  Added to this....people on scooters probably exceed the 30 kph a great deal.  

Four German News Stories

 1.  WELT reported an odd poll where they asked Germans.....if a AfD win occurred and they ran the government....would you think about leaving Germany?  Oddly....one out of seven Germans said 'yes'....they anticipate themselves leaving.  Where?  No one asked that particular question.

The logical end-point?  It is possible that AfD might one day get in the 30-perccent range and win an election....but without coalition partners....they will never run a government.  

Oddly, I posed this scenario to my German wife about a month ago....if we'd have to leave.  Oddly, her response was 'yes, we'd have to go'....but never answering next question....'where'.

2.  WELT had a piece where they talked about older homes in need of renovation (particularly for heat) and how the cost of the renovation is affecting sales prices (figure these older places are now 190,000 Euro less because of this problem).

3.  Linke Party calling for 14-Euro to be the minimum hourly wage in Germany.  Probably will come but not in 2023 or 2024.

4.  Some kind of weird episode yesterday at the Munich Airport as people were boarding a Lufthansa plane.  Some German gal (27) started removing her clothing....walking around nude in the cabin area.  Cops got called and asked her to dress back up.  She went into frenzy (I'd suggest a drug episode) and was fighting the police.  One cop was injured before they could get her tied up and removed.  

What Was The Russia Business About Yesterday?

 After I retired out of the Air Force, I continued to work as a contractor.  One day, we had a new 4-star general arrive.  Within six hours of arrival....he'd gone to demonstrate how 'crazy' he was, and this unbalanced act went on for around 2.5 years.  There was not a single week where sanity reigned with this guy.

I generally believe at this top level of Russian leadership (probably a hundred individuals)....they all function in some half-ass way.  Prigozhin?  He went the full distance on crazy behavior, then stopped at the most unexpected moment.  

On my four-star general?  After he retired and left....some US University picked him up to be Chancellor of the university.  Within two weeks of arrival....he'd demonstrated his behavioral problem.  He wanted every building on campus painted the same color....in a hurry (to be done in a 2-year period).  Later, he got into a huff about window decorations around Christmas in the dorms....ordering those to be removed.  Around nine months after arrival, the board of the college asked him quietly to resign (not willing to take any more).

What Was This Russelheim Oldtimer Car Show Scandal All About?

 Around two decades ago....these car collectors in Russelheim (mostly Opel guys) got a building and started a museum.  On the list of ten things to see in Frankfurt....I'd put it on the list and it's worth a 3-hour trips.

The guys then decided....why not approach the city of Russelheim to have a oldtimer car show.  City was happy, and the first show or two was 500-odd cars (regional thing).

Over the years it grew.  This year, it was anticipated that 3,000 oldtimers would show up, and 30,000 'guests' would be walking around to view cars....from across all of Europe.

So....the area that the city had selected yearly for the show....was a flat open field area.  There was room for the oldtimer cars, and room for people to drive in as guests.  I need to emphasize this is public land...NOT private property.

Covid had prevented the show....so this was a big deal in restarting it.

Well....environmentalists got into the middle of this, and asked....what is the control plan for oil damage on public property?  

The city declined to participate.  A judge then got dragged in and asked the question.  

As a plans guy from my years in the military....an event like this would have a 50-odd page 'plan'.  Oil leakage would likely not be on the plan.

Me personally?  I would have responded to the judge and said I'd give a 2-meter by 3-meter piece of cardboard to each oldtimer car participant.  

The judge would have grinned and then said....what happens if the oil drips past the cardboard?  I'm screwed.

Plan 'B'?  There never was one.....you could not get past the oil damage chatter.

Public law affecting even parking a drippy car on a city street?  Yeah, you could browse through Frankfurt or Darmstadt law, and probably find various fines....from hundreds to thousands.

The other funny part of this discussion....if you went and really observed the oldtimer conditions....out of a thousand cars, it's possible that only three to five cars would have had some oil situation.  But you have no statistical data to prove or disprove this idea.

Environmentalists making their case?  Yeah....but in doing so....this was a money-pit for hotels, bars, clubs, catering services, security folks, and restaurants.  I would imagine locally....for the 4-day event....there was probably three-million Euro spent in various ways. 

So, locally...a lot of people stood to make some money off the weekend.

Will a plan 'B' be developed for 2024?  No.  You can't find a way to make people happy....so I would suggest the oldtimer show is finished locally.  

Anger and frustration toward the environmentalists?  Yeah, and this is the type that will linger more than ten years.  Hurting in the months leading up to a Hessen state election?  That's another issue, and it's not that positive for the environmentalists in the region.

Where the show could move to?  I have two ideas.  One is the Kassel Airport area (it's big enough) and the racetrack area down in the Manheim area (privately owned).  

What bothers me here....if you use this oil drip rule....there's probably over 1,000 fests around Germany that use ground soil to park upon.  Legally, you could attack every single one of those for failing to have a oil leak plan, and really make your group the most hated in Germany.  

But this is the way that law has been drafted over the past couple of decades and no one really envisioned how far this would go.

Late News

I sat last night watching German late news on Channel One (ARD).  Hot topic near the end?  Carbon-neutral status of Bhutan.

First, this was a 'pat-on-the-back' type segment....they were succeeding in being totally carbon-neutral.  

How they primarily did it....hydro-electric power.  Then on the 2nd part of the segment....they were in some type of tree-planting agenda.  

So....there were a number of things which ARD left out, and I kinda noticed it.

GDP of Bhutan? $3,144 (ranked 124th in the world).  If you ran the total GDP....it's ranked 178th in the world at $2.6-billion.

Location?  If you tested Germans....I suspect 10-percent would know it's in Asia, but fewer than 1-percent could identify it on a map. It's above Bangladesh, and wedged against the mountains. 

To make it into the carbon-neutral numbers?  Well....basically it helps to have no real industry, no enormous commerce, most people in the farming occupation, no civil wars, a low population of 720,000, a king who is both king and PM, a massive amount of the public as Buddhists, limited tourism (they mandate you need to show spending ability of $200 per day), and marginal growth.  

It's a simple formula....if you want to be carbon-neutral....just be like Bhutan.  I suspect if you showed the full dynamic....the bulk of German society would say 'no'.  

GDP and commerce making it awful hard to reach carbon-neutral status?  Yeah, and it's a serious burden to 'lessen' yourself....while pushing an agenda to have a happy society.  

Course, if you consider the population decline going on in Germany (luckily for the nation, immigration/asylum is hindering that)....it's a plus-up for carbon-neutral goals.  

If the present numbers were to continue (say for 200 years), we'd have a nation of people only two-thirds the size of present Germany, and probably easily reaching carbon-neutral status without any agenda or money spent.  

Note, I'm not slamming Bhutan.  Whatever money that the King had his hands on...was well-spent on the hydro-electric production...rather than subways or train-stations, or Berlin airports.  I'd also note that avoiding civil conflict or hot political debate...probably has benefited them in dozens of ways.  

If anything, ARD ought to spend an entire hour talking about the Kingdom of Bhutan, and how smart spending might be a better goal in the end.

Nine German News Stories: 24 June 2023

 1.  Focus had a pretty interesting summary of issues now existing with the heat-pump agenda....worth reading. 

One thing they point out....presently, the enthusiasm to shop around and go heat-pump....has crapped out.

Natural gas and oil heating systems?  Upward trend.

One interesting point that is continually brought out....homes built two or three decades ago and going back....never were wired-up to handle heat-pumps...let alone....charging up of cars.  So if you did go and have interest in heat-pumps now....you'd have to bring in the electrical guy to survey the house.  My humble guess (a home built in 1960s)...the electrician would just start laughing.  You'd need 7k Euro minimum of electrical wiring upgrades before you even talked about the heat-pump.  

2.  Ukraine-Russia war.  Just an odd thing....the FSB (former KGB) was given orders to investigate the Wagner contractor chief and Wagner itself.  

Prigozhen (the boss) has gotten into a corner and finding himself isolated from Putin.  

WELT says that one group of Wagner has advanced onto Rostov.  Numbers?  Conflicting.  It sounds like a couple of hundred. 

One could ask the question....are the regular police equipped or trained to handle an internal civil conflict (I doubt it), and presently....the Russian Army is stretched-out.  

3.  Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud....major grocery chains and 'separate' for a couple of decades (family decision to split them) are discussing a merger.  Would be a big deal if this occurred.

4.  German weather guys say the jet-stream has gone back to 'normal'....with more rain anticipated for the next four weeks.  Drought situation currently?  Up until the past week....my valley had gone almost 100 days without any rainfall.

5.  Journalists shocked (at least WELT says so) that the police have been listening into phone conversations with the Last Generation activists.  

Once the judges declared the 'kids' as a criminal front....the legal papers were signed to listen in. I'm surprised that news folks didn't grasp that.  

6.  WELT had a piece which details clan-wars going on in Castrop and Essen....between clans associated with Lebanese families and Syrians.

You could go back a decade and see the problem developing.  I suspect if you asked around Hamburg, Frankfurt, etc.....there's pre-war developments occurring each week. 

7.  Criticisms of the German national soccer team and coaching?  In the past month....probably the most of the entire past decade.

8.  Till Lindemann's legal troubles (the Rammstein scandal business) went down a notch this week.  The police in Lithuania completed their investigation of allegations....saying nothing illegal occurred.  German cops?  Still looking into allegations.

I'll say....if the German cops come to wrap up the case and say no charges.....a lot of anger will brew over how the news media handled the suggestion of a crime. 

9.  HR (public TV for Hessen) did a fairly big story over Frankfurt being the cocaine-hub of Germany.   The South American cartels have developed this over the past decade.  

German Public TV Reform?

 Yesterday came this odd announcement from ARD (public German TV, Channel One) on reform.

Starting in 2024....three competency 'centers' will be formed up, and all content/programs on three key topics....for all of public TV....will come from these centers.  The three initial topics?  Climate change, consumers, and health.

As time goes on....more 'centers' will be added.  So if you were to view ARD or ZDF, or any of the sub-networks....if the topic of health came up....there's one single creator of the information.  Same for consumer info.  Same for climate change.

Yeah, I sat and kinda questioned this, and how you'd get one single funnel of information....without any debate.

Down the line in five years, I'll predict that even the management folks will agree that this single competency unit has problems attached, and that leadership gets changed out every year or so.  

Each at a different location?  Well...they were careful to avoid this discussion.  I'm guessing each these competence centers will be dished out to some major studio.  

Radio to go this way as well?  They got into this discussion and suggested that 'radio play' would be structured as well.  I'm guessing by the words....the day where Hessen or Bavaria had a unique public news or music selection....will probably go away, and some national trend centralized 'brand' will occur.

On this topic....I had a favorite FM network....HR3 (Hessen).  For the over 50-crowd....it was probably the best music selection of any network in Germany.  

Why all this reform chatter?  Well....there's a lot of pressure building up over no more increases in the monthly TV-media tax. They are convinced that people would accept this reform, and not push them much further.  

Two Crime Stories

 First, we had a court case in Giessen to conclude.  This was over a accusation of a Covid-test center.  A  guy was accused of commercial fraud and counterfeiting results.  Verdict?  Guilty.  Sentence?  2.5 years in prison.

From what they could figure....the center had issued 185 fake tests, with fake results and each time collecting 80 Euro for the fake test.  They figured he walked away with 15,000 Euro in cash.

Second, over on the far NE side of Frankfurt two nights ago....four guys rigged up a ATM-blow-up situation.  Machine was blown and the four rushed to grab the cash....then returned to a waiting vehicle (5th guy).

At the time....someone leaned out the window of the next building and video-tapped the event...noted the description of the car and where it was going.  Cops were alerted, and they eventually cornered the vehicle (four were caught....fifth guy on the run).

I would imagine the cops will be looking at past history, and there's some link to other ATM machines being blown up.  

If you browse German newspapers....there's probably a blow-up conducted at least once a day....throughout the country.  

All This Public Pool Violence Chatter?

 Over the past week or two, if you browse through major German news sources.....lot of hype over assaults/fights...at German public pools.  

I'll make five observations over this:

1.  Most of what you see goes to male juveniles and young men.  I've yet to see a case where a gang of women got into a tussle with another gang of women.

2.  As much as you make the case for this being non-German young males....if you review newspapers where the stories are laid out....I'd say about a quarter of the problem-guys lead to Germans.  

3.  What the pool management folks don't want to be?  Bouncers or internal security.  Presently, they blow the whistle and try to suggest better behavior....but if things go beyond control?  They call the local police unit.  These days, it'll be at least two or three patrol vehicles that show up....figure four to six cops minimum.

4.  What the police are suggesting?  More or less....video cameras, and active banning of people.  The pool management folks don't really want this job, and if they went this way....you'd have to hire more folks (meaning the cost of operations goes up, and ticket prices would have to escalate).

5.  Why the stupid behavior?  You could see this back in 2016 where they (the pool folks) started to put up 'reminders' over proper pool management.  Some of this probably led back to marginally integrated 'new' residents, but in general....you could see 'macho' behavior being a norm in German society.  

Where all of this leads to?  I would imagine that a 'pool-pass' eventually will be created nationally, and if you did some really stupid stuff...you wouldn't get the pool-pass.  Yes, and this would involve some type of database of 'pool-crimes' and 'pool-behavior' (as stupid as it sounds).  

A massive problem?  That's the funny part to the story.  You can go to various parts of the Pfalz....finding 95-percent of pools never have such an issue.  It's mostly in highly urbanized cities.  In Berlin?  I would imagine if you asked pool management folks about weekends, that they dismiss or throw-out ten young guys every weekend....as a minimum. 

Six German News Stories

 1.  Excellent piece on Focus by Ulrich Reitz....going into the build-up of the AfD Party, and the crappy handling by the Chancellor (Scholz) and the Green Party. Worth reading.

What Reitz points out....since the beginning days of this coalition....the main idea of the Scholz team (SPD-Greens-FDP)....has been to ignore the AfD folks entirely.  Polling since that point?  Spiraling downward for all three parties.

2.  Last Generation activist  spray-painted a bank in Chemnitz yesterday.

3.  Storms throughout central and north Germany yesterday.  At some point, there were around 420 different emergency crews responding to trees down or flooded areas.  In the Duisburg region, the train network was taken down....with people told to find hotels for the night.

4.  The Health Ministry has drafted up a bill for the Bundestag, which they suggest will be the end of the recurring shortage of prescription drugs in Germany.  

5.  Saxony's Premier-President is calling for an German-Russian agenda to repair the natural gas pipelines (Nord Stream II).  Politically a problem?  

Some Germans (I won't guess the percentage)....have always viewed that there would be an end to the Ukraine-Russia war, and that natural gas sales would start back up.  

6.  The NATO 'boss' (Stoltenberg) was supposed to retire this year (2 terms as chief of NATO).  I noticed off N-TV this AM that so far....no one has been able to find a qualified person for replacing him.  So there's chatter that Stoltenberg will be asked to stay one more 'term'.  

Odd?  You would think that a dozen-odd folks would have qualifications for the job and would be fishing for the job.  

Hessen State Election Polling

 Up to this point, the 8 Oct 2023 Hessen state election looked pretty sure for the CDU to win (in the 29-to-30 percent range), with the SPD getting near 22-to-23 percent for 2nd place.  

The Greens (who the CDU would partner with)...were looking 16-to-18 percent.  

The AfD?  Pretty solid at 13-percent.

This Russelheim oldtimer car-show saga?  Well...there seems to be a number of folks in the region now who are extra peeved about what the environmentalists did in court....to have the oldtimer show (30,000 guests were expected) cancelled.  

Affecting the state election?  I'd say over the next hundred-odd days....the Greens will lose a fair amount of support in the Russelheim area, and state-wise.....it'll amount to something like a 2-percent loss (figuring a 2-to-3 point gain for the AfD).

A big deal?  Well...to get into the coalition deal.....the Greens (if they lose 2 points) are not likely to be the coalition partner.  SPD the likely partner then?  I would suggest that.

Still....is it still a big deal?  No.  The local environmentalists prioritized things an figured in the long-term....they got something out of this car-show cancellation.  

The odds that the show will be moved elsewhere (permanently) from Russelheim?  Yeah, I'd say it's a 90-percent chance of leaving the area, and that will sit pretty negative on the locals.  Who will get it?  Hockenheimring?  That's my guess. It's a major track....privately owned, and environmentalists would face a tough situation in cancelling out a oldtimer show there.  

Just to point this out....if the show is permanently lost....that's the second major event in five years to be pulled out of Hessen.  

Three Observations

 1.  Turkey's central bank went from 6.5-percent interest....to 15-percent interest.  I'll just note that inflation in Turkey is running 40-percent at present, and they figure this rate change will help.

2.  There was an interesting statement made by the AfD Party 'boss' (Weidel).....that this chatter by Merz (the CDU 'boss') that they would never partner-up....Weidel says Merz can't prevent such a coalition from occurring.

I sat and pondered the statement.  

In the fall of 2024, Thuringia will hold a state election.  Presently, with polling, AfD will likely win the election (they pull 30-percent).  They would come to the CDU to partner up, and one would imagine 'no' being the outcome.

But lets say that a number of people join the CDU Party within Thuringia, and members of the party (say a lot of new members) change the dynamic, and vote that a coalition partnership can now exist.

Merz and the national CDU can't do much or say a lot....without attracting massive attention.

Weidel has a point, and it's just curious if new members are appearing within the CDU there in Thuringia.

3.  This odd slavery case in a Koblenz court?

Yesterday wrapped up a slavery case involving a woman who'd gone and joined ISIS, and had a Yazidi-woman kept as a 'slave' for three years.  

Part of the story revolved around the husband of the woman holding the slave....that he was regularly raping and beating the 22-year-old slave.

The court sentenced the woman to nine years in prison. 

Polling Chatter

 I noticed polling from INSA (respected polling organization) on German politics.  If there were an election today.....the CDU/CSU would win but with only 26.5 percent.  Second place?  Tie between AfD and SPD at 20 percent each.  Linke would marginally get 4.5 percent.  Greens at 13.5 percent. FDP at 7.5 percent.

Reaction?  For public news media.....it's a harsh reality that AfD has continued a positive trend.  For the coalition.....led by the SPD (Greens and FDP)....if they were in an election....they'd only be able to 41 percent in a national election.

Surviving Another Day

 I assume most of you reading this...here on the 22nd of June....are alive and well.

For a brief time yesterday (up until 11:18 AM), some of us were worried and maybe sipping through whiskey early in the AM.

Yes, we weren't wiped out.  

Don't worry.....I don't intend to have a 'end-of-humanity' party on Friday or waste my booze on celebrating us missing the big one.

Pool Story

 I sat and watched a N-TV news piece this AM....topic?  Swimming pool safety in Germany.

You can go back about seven years ago and note side-stories where fights broke out at public pools, and police had to be called.

The journalist for this piece went and talked to pool operators, and police.

Pool operators will say that a 'macho-style' has started up in urbanized areas, with blunt attitudes being the 'norm'.

The police?  They say that the pool folks need to install cameras....start identifying the problem-folks (mostly all men, I would assume), and forbid them entry.

They then brought up Berlin standards....where 1,300 bans were issued in the past year. 

Private security/bouncers.....the next step?  I would imagine all of these urbanized pools will be raising their pool fees (probably 100-percent) and go to weekend bouncers being the norm and long-term bans would become an eventual norm.

The odd thing I see from this story trend....if you went back to the 1970s to the 1990s.....you simply didn't see this type of aggressive behavior at public pools in Germany.

Road Story

 I live in the edge of a valley, with a fairly decent town just over the hill (20,000 residents, four grocery stores, and a train station).  There's one simple route to the town (straight over the hill) taking 2 minutes to reach, or the long route...taking five minutes to reach.  

Back in 2018....toward the fall, the district had money to refurbish the 2-minute road (announced just two weeks prior).  So they shut this road down....entirely....for about 3 months.  It was a pain-in-the-ass, but necessary.

About two months after they reopened this 2-minute route....someone noticed problems with the bridge (there's one railway bridge on this road).  In simple terms....it was probably within six months of failure.  This scared the crap out of the inspection folks, and they shut down the bridge....keeping the 2-minute route open but meaning you have to transit through a large amount of housing area (low speeds).  

The amusing side-story here....the city in the year prior.....near the bridge...had installed a blitz-camera for speeders.  That was now proven worthless.

Almost an entire year was spent then devising the tear-down plan.  Once that was torn down, then they had to work on the embankment (that took 18 months).

Six months ago, up as you enter this village....they built up a side area (probably half the size of a soccer field).  Yeah, it was a fair amount of money to put up a massive amount of gravel and make it possible for a heavy weight to be put upon it.

A month or two passed, and they started building a iron-bridge there (it's about half-a-mile from the old bridge site).  The plan is....build this, then transport it down the road.

Expected end-date?  Well....looking at things...I'd say spring 2024.  

Six years of this road and bridge situation?  Yeah.

I should note here....this use of the side-street for the past four years.....has more or less....worn out the side-street, and there's probably a 3-million Euro replacement job destined for it.  

Six German News Stories

 1.  ARD (public TV, Channel One) signed a unique contract for soccer games (for the 2025 season).

For several decades, on Saturday evening....the Sportschau came on around 10:15 PM and featured highlights and discussions of the Saturday game.  I'd say it was highly popular with most German guys.

Well....ARD came to realize with the type of contract they signed....they can only present Saturday highlights....via streaming video....NOT via normal TV signals.

I'll just say....unless they can fix this....it'll piss-off a number of soccer fans.

2.  Focus ran a major feature piece...talking over the idea that the AfD Party may pursue a Chancellor candidate in 2025's federal election.  Who?  Left blank, but it is a hot topic apparently.

3.  CDU members for the Berlin-City gov't....have now said they are willing to discuss some expropriations.  Meaning?  They could see a way to buy back housing, and manage it (set rental prices) at a certain level.  How much? Left blank.  

To go into detail....there used to be a lot of public housing across Germany, and in the 1980s/1990s....they sold it to private companies.  It's a hot topic in Berlin presently.   

4.  A Covid case was determined yesterday....coming out of 2020 (yeah, 3 years ago).  So there was supposed to be a protest meeting to occur, and in Saxony....the gov't said 'NO'.  Well....the judges reviewed everything and said the city didn't have the right to deny the meeting/protest.  

5.  The name 'Deutsche Post' to disappear?  Some chatter from yesterday that the company will rebrand itself, and get a new name.  No idea what the name will be.

6.  For a number of years, Russelsheim has held a classic-car fest (probably up in the range of 3,000 cars that would appear).  People came from across Europe.

Well....the environmentalists went to court and challenged the environmental 'safety' and a court agree.  The fest (which  was to start Friday, running 4 days)....is now cancelled.

Hotel cancellations?  I would imagine every single hotel within 20 kilometers had rooms rented out.  Those will all be cancelled.  

Just adding another layer of disrespect for the environmentalists?  Yeah.  

What this was mostly about?  Organizers have always used a huge grassy park area for the cars to be parked and shown.  What the environmentalists wanted was a plan to protect the grass (preventing oil spills).  

Political Chatter

 I sat and looked through a German Twitter discussion....how various Germans are trending toward the AfD Party....to send a message toward the other parties/Bundestag.

The general fear by opposition parties is that AfD is presently at 19-percent, and some people think that they might reach 25-to-30 percent over the remaining months (fall of 2025) for the next federal election.

The opinion of some people?  Positions taken over the gender debate, heat-pumps, refugees, the economy?  It's providing some anger and frustration....which leads to people saying that you need to 'send' a message.

If the AfD were to get 30-to-35 percent of the vote (to win)?  No one would partner with them, but it'd create a number two 'winner' who has to partner with weaker parties, and possibly send even more people in 2029's election....over to the AfD (yeah, kinda like that 1932 election where people felt sending a message meant a vote for a certain party was the right thing to do.

Screwed-up?  It's amazing that people grasp this 'push' going on, and their reaction is to discuss the idea of sending a message.  

In recent weeks, the head of the CDU (right-of-center) spoke up and said every time that the Green Party does something really stupid.....it sends another ten voters over to the AfD.

It's an odd thing to look over and wonder how you halt a trend to make people happy.

About That Neuschwanstein American Murder

 I noticed this AM....they've ID'ed the 31-year-old American guy.  Apparently he's from Detroit, single, and had arrived in Germany on a tourist visa around 1 June.

Past work?  Something to do with oilfields.  

Police still working on motive.

Three Observations: 21 June 2023

1.  Bitter fighting going on within CDU Party?

Well....you have two 'adventures' going on.

First, you have a pro-Merkel group existing within the CDU....who want Merz gone, and the NRW Premier-President (Hendrik Wüst) to replace him.  Merz apparently is not Merkel-enough for this group.

Second, you have various opposition parties saying that the CDU needs to 'reform' in some way....to take votes away from the AfD Party (meaning they need to lean more right).  Their suggestion is that something must happen shortly, or we end up in a crisis.

2.  With all this German hype today about potential tornadoes for Thursday....is this rare?

Well....on average, between 10 and 25 tornadoes are identified in Germany each year (since 2001).  Most are minor in nature....lasting a minute or two.  In my region....about a mile away into the woods....a funnel cloud came down and knocked down around sixty trees (back around 8 years ago).

3.  I noticed a news piece this AM....German bicycle dealers are dealing with a large inventory of bikes (ordered in the Covid era), and currently in the show-room....unsold.  Prices are being discounted.  You can probably get 10-to-20 percent off presently...compared to the 2022 prices. 

Five German News Stories

 1.  Lot of hyped-up negativity about Germany having lost the soccer game last night (2-0, Columbia win).  Rumors starting up that the coach may be fired.

I should note, at the beginning of the game....two Last Generation activists rushed onto the field and tried to chain themselves to the goal post. 

2.  Thursday weather warnings being given....potential for tornadoes being talked about.

3.  The state of Baden-Wurttemberg did a fitness survey with daycare and elementary school kids.  Kids in the state are still considered the most fit....of any German state, however....they say that Covid has caused problems that still linger today.  Roughly 30,000 kids in the state took part in the test.

4.  WELT had a piece on things being identified as 'right-wing' or extremist.  Oddly....carrying a kid in a sling (like you see mothers do on the street), or breast-feeding a kid...is now being suggested as 'right-wing'.  Writer of the article suggests this weird view is confused.

5.  N-TV piece this AM....talking over Nord Stream II explosion...saying that there was relatively a small amount of explosive material used to blow it up.

Three Interesting Things

 1.  I noticed this today via WELT....that 1.7 million people are getting a German pension outside of Germany.  Some are non-Germans, but WELT says it's an increasing number of German folks....who have left the country and live beyond the border.

Cost of living issue?  Yeah, I would imagine each of them will say that.

2.  Two German guys who were in prison (doing physical labor there) sued the German government claiming that the 2-Euro an hour income....was unfair.  Court today?  It agreed.  

What the wage should be?  They declined to 'guess' that.  It'll have to be done via a study and I'm guessing whatever the national minimum wage is....will be the set level in the future.

3.  Population going up?  As of today, Germany says 84.4-million people reside in the country.....roughly .1-percent up over last year.

Documentary Review

 Channel Two (ZDF) of German public TV offers up a documentary-type program called '37 Degrees'.  It's a wide collection of news-stories that are bundled up to tell a story.

So the latest one is called 'Radical, Hated, Desperate'.  

Having viewed it....I'll make this observation.  It's a 28-minute story revolving around young adult Germans, who are members of 'Last Generation' (the environmental group).

From the story told....I'd say they all have put an enormous amount of stress/pressure on their lives....with dedication toward the Last Generation cause.

Consumed to the level of this being a cult-like group?  Well...by the end of the 28 minutes....yeah, I'd say all of them involved in this....have symptoms that you would tie into cults.

What the documentary didn't cover?  Regular Germans viewing the actions of 'Last Generation' and how they aren't buying into the behavior or actions.  

I think the documentary crew went the route of just explaining the cause, and how dedicated these folks are.  

The 'Cat' Story

 For about three days, I've been following the UK story....kid identifying as a 'cat'.  

So the simple basic story is that at some school....you were going to be able to identify as anything you wanted (meaning more than male or female), and some 13-year old girl said she'd identify as a 'cat', and another kid (girl, 13) said 'no, you can't be more than male or female).  This led to the teacher being involved, and telling the 'no-you-can-only-be-a-male-or-female kid'.....this is disrespectful and we may have to kick you out of this school.

I should note....this rational kid said 'no'....that she has rights to an opinion. 

At this point....the audio recording of the teacher-kid encounter is now being heard by everyone, and I'm pretty sure that more than three-quarters of the population have heard the recording and have an opinion.

What bothers me about this.....this 'you-can-identify-as' gimmick has reached a point where it doesn't make any rational or logical sense.  I could stand up and identify as a PhD-holder, a rocket-scientist, a Marvel-evil-bad-guy, Moses, Ernie (from Bert and Ernie), some Chinese war-lord, or a alien-creature.  More or less, by this new public standing....you'd have to accept what I say....or be cancelled.

Where did this irrational mind-set start?  Unknown.

Where does this end?  Unknown.

Will we have 13-year-old kids identifying as 'smart-enough' and get some bogus university degree?  I suspect in five years...it'll be happening.  

We rational people forced to just play along?  For a while.....I think it'll be pressed upon us to just agree mentally ill situations are acceptable. 

You might want to prepare yourself....it's going to be a rough period ahead.

'Hard-Braking' Topic

 I really hadn't experienced hearing the word 'hard-braking' until I got to Wiesbaden a couple of years ago.

Typically, it translates to mean....you are on a bus, and the driver has grasped an emergency situation and slammed on the brakes.  I've probably been on three buses where the situation developed, and in each case....at least one or two people were in some injury situation.  

This means...the bus trip halts entirely (dumping you off), and some ambulance gets called.  The last time....it was some 70-year old gal who'd twisted her wrist hanging on.....I suspected a breakage.  

Yesterday, in town.....they had a 'hard-braking', and a couple of ambulances were called.  Nine folks were hurt in some way, and six of them got a trip to the hospital for an x-ray.  

It is a hazardous experience....just riding a bus.

Five German News Stories

 1.  Some front-page story out of WELT....shocking.....the German Army is short on artillery ammo.  To be honest, if you went back over the whole past decade, this shortage has continually existed.  It's not exactly new issues.  

2.  There's a shoplifting piece out there that says the present yearly 'take' in Germany is around 3.7-billion Euro.

3.  Off N-TV this AM.....story brewing that the federal government's cartel office is looking at several German companies for price-rigging.  They haven't named the companies....yet.  

4.  The Monday night public forum show....'Hart Aber Fair'....ran most all of the chat on the Rammstein band business (Till Lindemann) and his consensual/non-consensual sex stuff....with Till being present.

Pretty rough on Till....but they did come to some point of saying you can't run blanket discrimination against men, and that facts are murky in this case.

To be honest....if you tested most Germans....the vast majority don't know the guy (he's heavy metal) and would not recognize him if stopped at the front-door to ask for a cup of water. 

5.  'Pechstein-scandal'?   Basically, you've got a German female policewoman who shows up at CDU political functions....in a police uniform.  This has freaked out some fragile folks who say you can't have this type of uniform attendance.  It would appear, up until this point, there wasn't a state or federal rule on this type of thing.

Pool Fight?

 Over the weekend at Mannheim....there was a fight to start up.

What the cops say?  Two older teens pushed a 12-year old into the water and held him under for a few seconds.

Forty folks (mixed adults/teens) were then in the ruckus....cops got called.  At least five folks were bad enough for a ambulance ride to the hospital.  Someone in the mix also got a knife wound.

Four Political Questions

 1.  Will the Linke Party be out as the next fed election (fall 2025) occurs?

Well....if you add current polling numbers....they will likely be at less than 5-percent....meaning no federal seats in the Bundestag.  State-wise?  Yeah, they might be able to hold seats in five states (depending on state elections).

A big deal deal?  I would say that the Greens and SPD hold most of the left-type voters at present.

2.  If Metz (boss at the CDU Party) were stupid and said something to get fired?

It would just trigger the party to hold open debate, and you'd see Spahn likely getting voted as the next boss of the party.  Nothing gained or lost....I'd say.

3.  Does the German gov't need to go and mandate how you heat your home?

Somehow, without admitting this....there's this enormous fear of running out of heating oil and natural gas.  They avoid this discussion, but it appears to be of a huge worry.  

In their mind, going electric is the only avenue left, and hoping this eventual hydrogen idea/technology catches up.  

Selling this to the general public, without saying the fear of a bad severe winter and not enough natural gas?  Yeah, they've done a 1-star job of branding this whole thing, and what you see is a lot of skepticism.

4.  If the AfD Party ever 'won' an election (state or federal).....is there any party willing to partner with them to get up to 50-percent (the coalition rule)?

NO.  There simply isn't such a scenario possible.  You would end up with a second-place winner....trying to partner-up with a 3rd and 4th place winner....to get a fairly weak and watered-down situation.

So, Why Is This Migration/Asylum Chatter Still A Hot Topic In Germany?

 Well....this is the long version of the answer.

Prior to 2013, Germany had a migration/immigration program.  You (the migrant) would be sitting in X-country and get the idea that you'd like to leave....preferring to enter Germany above other options.

So you'd go to the German consulate/embassy....show a legit ID, and fill out around 15-odd pages to explain your situation.  You'd detail what you have to offer (language ability or certificates).  The form would be mailed to a 700-odd person agency in Nuremburg.  

This agency had a priority written....detailing the plus-points to you getting approved.  No one talks about how things worked in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s.  

This review typically took about six to twelve weeks.  Then it'd come back, and you'd get a call to come to pick up your approval 'slip'.  At the consulate, they'd ask if you need financial help for the flight.  The West Germans (at that time) were nice enough to cover all of this.  You'd fly into Frankfurt....spend a few days at some regional facility, and then progress to the town chosen for your new 'life'.

This was pretty simple and business-like.  Some people were approved....some people were never approved (maybe having submitted several applications).  

So we get to 2013, and here....the dynamics change in a funny way.

The Merkel-coalition is standing there at the beginning of the Iraq-Syria civil war with ISIS....with the belief that there aren't that many coming.

For 2013, I'd guess that the number of people just walking up through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria....probably to be no more than 5k to 8k.  The fact that none of these countries blocked the borders?  The fact that literally none of the 'walkers' wanted to establish themselves in any of these countries?  Yeah, this would be brought up and discussed, but no one could grasp that end of the discussion.

BAMF, the agency in Nuremburg had three issues.  First, they were built and manned to handle x-number of applications per month.  By the end of 2014, they were probably handling three to five times that number.  Bringing in more manpower (at least in their mindset) meant training those people and it'd take a long period to achieve this.  Second, the top level of the Merkel coalition felt there were way too many disapprovals going on....not realizing that the BAMF folks had the same 'chart' that had existed in the 1970s/1980s for processing people.  Third, in the mix of Iraqi/Syrians....there were various other refugees (Afghans, Tunisians, Africans, etc) who'd figured out the route, and they didn't really fit into the approval process.  

Eventually, the 'boss' of BAMF would be talked into retirement, and a 'results-orientated' guy would be brought in.  Some anger and bitterness existed within the crew, but they were forced to modernize.  A business-consulting company gave an evaluation, which probably didn't help matters within the agency.  The problem of disapprovals still flowing?  Yeah.....that became obvious that if you didn't fit into the agreed-upon matrix....you weren't going to get a visa.

Then you came to two obvious groups which were creating their own stumbling blocks.  Politically....this became a happy-thing within various political parties.  You could attach the 'good-German' logo to yourself....if you were pro-asylum.  Adding to this....the second group....the public news media...became a pro-asylum tool. 

As you might imagine, this led to AfD (the party) being taken over and rebranded as the anti-asylum party.  Generally, you might not have approved of AfD's leadership or dynamics....but if you were negative about the government handling of migrants/refugees....you voted AfD to 'send' a message.

At the end of 2014, around 450,000 were assembled in Germany and it was a daily topic on the news for the last quarter of the year.  At the end of 2015, the number for the year was figured to be in the 950,000 range.

From personal observations, I'd say toward the last half of 2015....this was a political mess that needed fixing.

The general attitude within the leadership?  You needed the EU to fix this by taking all of the incoming refugees, and bundling them off to various countries....using a formula that Germany used for the sixteen states.  Several EU members were willing to discuss the matter....while several were not thrilled over this idea (refusing to discuss).  The Germans figured that you'd just tell the guy who'd walked 1,200 miles....that the guy would get a bunk for a week, and then be shipped off to Italy or Spain.  In their mind, he'd accept the EU ordering you to be dispersed.

What fell into place in 2016?  Fences.  Across the southern border to Greece....came fences and border protection.   Suddenly, the number dropped.  This wasn't a German idea....it was a realization by the southern states that one single country putting up a border....would trigger migrants passing through to be stuck and these countries really didn't want the situation of caring for asylum seekers.

Since 2016?  The number of 250,000 applications per year is mostly normal (this was the normal number prior to 2013, if you were curious.  

Yes, there are still migrants walking in, or arriving via boats in Italy.  

Presently?  The Green Party has attached itself to a serious pro-asylum position, and in recent weeks.....the EU has brought out a fairly tough asylum policy, which the typical Green voter isn't happy about.  

Adding to the present problems....the Ukrainian conflict has brought around 1-million folks (mostly women and children) into Germany.  Almost none of them have asked for asylum....they just want a period of time for safety reasons to reside in Germany.  

Housing and lack of funding?  Yeah, these are now brought up almost monthly.  The sixteen states say they aren't getting enough funding to handle the situation.  Then you have in virtually major city of Germany....a affordable housing crisis.  

If you asked me to rank the situation to 2014/2015....no, it's just not that bad.  But it probably ranks as a top-five issue politically, and the AfD Party is still maintaining a front on it being a crisis, which probably 10-to-20 percent of the public readily agrees with.  

Coming to some rational middle-of-the-road resolution....which would dismantle AfD's discussions?  You would think after a while....some general policy would be created and you could finally downsize this discussion (with lesser voter support of AfD).  But this hasn't occurred.  

Then the final keynote.....the birth-rate is still around 1.4 kids per couple....meaning the population trend line for Germany, over the next generation....is pretty crappy.  So they need migrants in some way....to keep the present population of 84-million possible.  That's the bitter side-story to consider. 

Three German News Items

 1.  President of Germany (Frank-Walter Steinmeier) spoke yesterday over AfD Party: "AfD pretends to people that we live on an island".  

He's labeled their positions as fake/fraud.  He took on both the positions of climate change (which probably now includes the heat-pump agenda), and immigration/migration....as examples.

In some ways, he may be correct on positions taken as not having a lot of thought put into them.  But over the past decade, you can look at the Scholz and Merkel coalitions....as having stumbled around.  So the idea of 'trusting-in-coalition-solutions' probably is at a all-time low.  

2.  WELT had a piece this AM talking over efforts by middlemen (not saying they are Germans) who are subverting the trade-ban with Russia.  The term 'shadow-trade' gets uttered now.  

3.  WELT also ran a piece that talked about the lack of building permits (lowest rate in 20 years).  Blame?  Regulations in various communities have made the permit business more difficult.  Interest rates are way up.  Then of course....inflation is making things hard to predict.  I should note....building materials (like nails/screws) have been a problem for craftsmen to obtain.

Bavarian Murder Story

 I noted that both the Brit and German news media are saying now from the attack at the Neuschwanstein attack (1 woman dead, the other fairly wounded).....that they (the two who'd recently graduated college) had stayed at hotel in Munich....and the accused guy was also staying at the same hotel.

They'd all signed up for a day-trip to Neuschwanstein.

No indicator that the three knew each other, but one might assume they met at the hotel.

This Neuschwanstein - Bavaria Murder

 Currently, we have only basic facts.

Somewhere on Wednesday.....one American male tourist encountered two young American female tourist on the trail around the side of the castle.  It was a friendly encounter, until the point where he was attempting to sexually assault one of them.  In the end, he ended up pushing both down (off a bridge area)....where one died.  The second gal (as of late yesterday) had been released from the local hospital.

The guy?  Detained and being held.  They suggest he is a tourist however....zero evidence of this so far.  Age?  31.

What the Bavarians did say....since they assume he's not military-related....is that Bavarian law will apply.  However, they did hint that once he's been sentenced....it' possible that a deal can be worked where he goes and spends his life in a US prison.  

The fact that his identity isn't established in public news yet?  Yeah, that is a odd part to the story.  

The tourist angle not firmly established yet?  Yeah, that also is a bit odd.  One would assume he had a passport and his travel agenda was existing.  

This ending up being a mental sanity review, and never charged for murder?  Yeah, that is a fair possibility at this point.  I don't think the Bavarians would want to shelter or keep him, but I doubt if you'd find some US state with the interest in volunteering to take his custody and guarantee lifetime handling in a facility.  I'd also question how you'd transport the guy back to the US.  

Four Things: Saturday: 17 June 2023

 1.  Over the past two weeks, I've spent a fair amount of time in downtown Wiesbaden, gone to several grocery stores, and been to the regional garage.  One thing you notice in walking around.....a lot of 'help wanted' signs. I've probably seen at least forty signs up....looking for both full-time and part-time people.

In general, if you just hold your hand up.....even if you were with marginal experience, lot of folks are now desperate and as long as you speak decent German....you can probably get hired.

I noticed an ad in the local news for the Frankfurt airport....to run the water/sewage truck around and handle incoming/outgoing planes.  Pay is listed as pretty good.  

2.  I noticed this week....some CDU conversations being discussed in the news....party is now divided along lines of former-Merkel supporters and the new party boss (Merz).  It's not a unified party, and Merz wants to lean the whole party to a point more right-of-center (Merkel was a center-center-type politician).

3.  Data collection shows some huge drop in building permits in Germany back in April.....largest drop since 2007.  Worrying some gov't folks.

4.  Tesla manufacturing company in Germany has lessen production....temp-workers were dismissed this week. Whatever the goal was....has changed course for production numbers.  

Five Things

 1.  ARD (Channel One) did a update on Covid vax 'injured'.  So out of 65-million Germans vaxed-up.....8,886 people have claimed injury.  Based on the current rate....11-percent have qualified for 'damages' (cash).  

At the end of the report, they kinda hinted that all the processing has not been completed.....so the 11-percent number is not wrapped up.  It probably will go higher.

One odd thing I noticed.....state-by-state....the numbers differ greatly on submissions.  NRW (NW Germany) is high.....while in the Saxony-Anhalt area....it's fairly low.

What you end up getting if proven?  Monthly pension deal.  No, it's not going to be some 10-million Euro situation.....you just get what you'd consider disabled status, with a marginal monthly check.

I would say this....public TV has been fairly open on explaining the topic. 

2.  There's a lot of hype going on within the news media of Germany about the Linke Party and Sahra Wagenknecht.  

Wagenkncht basically wants to take the party off to some position that seems to attract the AfD folks and the Linke Party folks.  

Agreement within the Linke Party (considered far-left)?  NO.  At best, if you take what people say....around 50-percent don't see a reason to sit and discuss some alternate party that would involve the AfD folks.

Numbers-wise, if this weird creation party came to exist, with AfD and leftover Linke folks?  Probably around 22-percent of the voting public.  

I just don't give this much of a chance of success.....but it is attracting attention.

3.  A heat-protection national 'strategy' for Germany?

Well.....this came up.....the Health Ministry wants a national plan.  There's supposed to be a meeting coming up where this would be discussed.

On heat-related deaths in Germany on average?  This is argued, but at a minimum....it's put at 5,000 deaths.  The Ministry has suggested in some years....it's gotten up to around 20,000 Germans dead because of the heat.

What are they talking about?  Right now?  Two things.....free chilled water (don't ask me how this would work), and cooled shelters (don't ask me how or where these would be....might even be some free pass into a cave or using subway areas).

My general advice?  Close your shutters and windows at 10 AM. Sip chilled water throughout the whole day.  Limit beer unless under a shaded area.  Dress appropriately.....meaning less is better.  Get all your big physical work done by noon.  

4.  Trends looking bad for the EU election in 2024?

Well....ARD polling says around 40-percent of Germans aren't that happy with the EU trends.  Most of these EU elections usually have minimum topics or anger built into them.  I'd say next year's episode will be a bit different.

5. Heat-pump law to be delayed?

Well....rumor has it that the FDP Party (coalition partner to SPD/Greens).....wants the passage arranged to occur after the Bavaria/Hessen state elections in the fall.  They think if it passes now.....they will not get 5-percent in either state's elections.  Frankly, I think it's a bit too late to suggest this, and it's a pretty sure bet in Bavaria that they won't get 5-percent.....anyway.

Five German News Stories

 1.  Attack at Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (Wed afternoon)?  Cops say the two ladies were Americans, and tourist (ages 21/22).  Guy is American (30).  They appear to have met on the trail leading up to the swinging bridge that overlooks the castle.  

Friendly initial meeting....appears that he went into some nutcase act....trying to sexually assault one gal.  Both were tossed at some point over into the gorge....one dying in the fall....the other pretty injured.  

Nothing much is known of the guy (they didn't say he was a tourist).  Guy is being held presently for murder and attempted-murder.  Wouldn't shock me if he was severely paranoid schizophrenic.

2.  Bold headlines on climate change.....we've exceeded that 1.5 C temperature change, and environmentalists are freaking out.  

3.  Focus had a story over Russia, and Russian government officials.  Apparently, some Russian research group has done a review of alcohol purchases, and since the war started up.....booze sales are way up.  The hint given....Russians are drunk around the clock.

4.  The band Rammstein's record company (Universal Music) is apparently reviewing options on the band since the scandal business started up.

5.  Economics Ministry in some trouble?  After Russia's war started....the German-Russian company....Gazprom.....was seized by the Ministry.  Oddly enough....they contracted out management, and paid them in the range of 60-million Euro.  The guy in the Ministry who hired this company.....also used to work for them.  

Yeah, this is a scandal-type mess, and there's going to be an investigation over the matter.  

Any oil or natural gas pumped from Gazprom?  Since the seizure....marginally near zero.  How or why the 60-million to manage 'nothing'?  This will be curious to explain.  The money/funding.....coming from the German gov't itself?  Yeah.  

Attack From Yesterday

 Bavarian police say two women were attacked on the bridge just beyond the  Neuschwanstein Castle. 

One of the women died at the hospital later.

Sexual-type attack?  That's what the police indicate.  The two ladies were 21 and 22 years old.

Guy?  Police conducted an intense search and found the guy.  Nothing else known about the guy.

Added note, all 3 Americans.

Bundestag Debates Today

 Two critical debates going on in the AM, and will continue for some time.

Heat-pump agenda by Habeck is listed, and the asylum situation with the new EU directive is open for debate.

What I'll say is that the EU did the German gov't a big favor by mandating some changes.....but this has openly hurt the Green Party and to a lesser degree....the SPD Party.

The heat-pump agenda?  A segment of society doesn't want to be told how to heat by the gov't, and this agenda stuff is hurting the SPD-led coalition.

Right now, if there was an election....it's two odd topics which could seriously damage the SPD-led coalition (includes the FDP and Greens).

This Milan 1933 UFO 'Crash'

 Over the past month, I've probably looked over twenty references to the UFO crash in Milan, Italy in 1933.  

Any truth?

Well....the basic story goes this way.  A craft crashed on the western side of Milan.  Locals came upon it....thinking it was a aircraft of some type.

Mussolini's officials?  They came to inspect the crashed vehicle (no bodies noted) and were all convinced in some way that this was a England, France or Germany high development craft.

In the weeks after the crash, the order came from Mussolini....to move 'human-made' craft to a hanger associated to SIAI Marchetti  (Vergiate) in Milan.

Their basic instruction?  A team led by Guglielmo Marconi would reverse engineer whatever the Brit, French or Germans had under development.

The alien idea....it would appear this came up a couple of years later.

In mid-1944, as Americans were entering Italy....the Pope  (he knew of the program and the location)....advised the Americans of the vehicle and assisted in some way for them to 'take' the vehicle out of Italy.

What happened to the vehicle?  No one says.

The passengers who had been on board?  No bodies were found. I would assume they were rescued, or simply blended into the landscape.

BS-factor?  The chief problem with the story, as I see it.....not a single mention of a recovered craft (being Brit, French or German) is in any local Milan newspaper of the period (several folks have commented on this odd missing news).

If such a vehicle had existed, one might expect Hitler by the late 1930s to be aware of it, and attempted to glean information on it for their own programs.  You don't see that indicator.

So I lean toward the story being 90-percent BS.  It was probably designed as a hoax-joke and people in Italy actually believed in this originally.  

Yesterday Came A German Pharmacy Strike

 I was walking about in Mainz yesterday....one of my five most favorite cities in Germany.  

Course, I came to note.....the German-wide pharmacy strike in progress.

What you noticed?  Doors closed...signs up, and in front of each pharmacy was a clerk who was ready to engage and explain their position on this.

I stood back at three locations and watched things.

Basically......no one stopped to engage or chat about the strike.  No one.

I probably spent 20 minutes at least location.....sipping a water to hydrate, or a beer to chill....nearby at a cafe.  

The public knew of the strike, and aren't in some confrontational or agreeable state of mind.  In some ways.....they see the strike leading to increased prices, and more inflation.

I felt sorry for the pharmacy folks.....they probably had no more than one person over the entire day who stopped to chat over the strike. 

TV-Media Tax Chatter

 I noticed on the front of BILD today....they went out and asked folks how they felt on this issue of raising the German TV-media tax.

Response?  Around 78-percent said 'NO'.  13-percent said 'YES'.

What ARD/ZDF says.....there has to be a raise in roughly a year....probably in the 80-cent range or more is what is generally mentioned.  The current monthly tax?  18.36 Euro....per house/apartment.

To make their blunt case?  I suspect they will announce more reruns in the mix.

The case against them?  For more than 20 years, there's been public encouragement that they need to reform/re-make their 'brand'.  They've never done much to demonstrate that position.

Some Germans suggest it's time to review the history on how ZDF came to exist, and if perhaps they should be 'let-go'.  (That will never happen....in explaining the history or dismissing them)

If you asked me the best way to proceed?  I'd say force them to stop paying enormous sums of money for sports events.  Let the commercial networks cover the sports.  I'd also suggest that one of the two (either ZDF or ARD) needs to dismiss their news staff.  

What is This Rammstein Band Scandal Developing?

 For about two to three weeks in Germany....called 'Rammstein'.  If you asked me the style of their music....it'd be ultra-heavy metal.  On where they are positioned in Germany?  I won't say they are a top twenty band (presently), but they certainly have a following of probably 200,000 fans across the country.....who are into heavy metal.

So, they have this frontman in the group....Til Lindemann.  Til is 60 years old, and is the core element of the group.

Around three weeks ago....some Irish gal came up and said she'd been drugged at a band function....then the news media folks suggest that she was sexually abused by Til (might be true....might not be true).  

There's generally a divided view in the public over this.  The anti-Til people are mostly in some fit....he has to be arrested and do real jail-time.  The pro-Til people are asking.....what heavy metal band doesn't do drugs, and this is the key element of any heavy metal party, and the women who hang around these guys....know it.

This Irish gal and the anti-Rammstein folks?  They believe sooner or later....the band will be prevented from performing....that venues will cease to allow them.  Yeah.....'cancel' is the term that probably fits here.

The problem though is that there are so many pro-drug folks in existing in Germany....that people are pretty cynical about this whole scandal and this type of thing has been going on for fifty years in Germany.  German bands just aren't church people, or living quiet lives.  

Three German News Stories

 1.  Focus had a brief update on the Nord Stream I/II explosion.  Big investigation by public TV in Germany.....leads to a Dutch intelligence official getting a anonymous tip that a Ukrainian crew were going to blow up the pipeline.  What did the Dutch intelligence service do?  They briefed the CIA.  

The CIA....turned around and told the Ukrainians that blowing up the pipeline was not a smart idea.  Beyond that....they did nothing.

Who was the approving authority on the mission?  It leads to the Ukrainian military.  

2.  The heat-pump draft bill will be presented in the Bundestag this week.....passage generally expected before the summer vacation.  Details?  Things still being worked out in the draft.

3. WELT reported that among non-German kids.....40-percent have to receive some form of gov't compensation (meaning the parent has no income).  

Covid Chatter

 This afternoon, I was at a local Germany grocery.....on the check-out line....stood a broad area of three Covid products.

First, a ten-pack of plain regular cheapo masks....3.90 Euro (this pack would have been near 8.90 back in 20200.  

Second, a single KN-95 pink-color mask for 35 Euro-cents.  This would have been at least 3.90 Euro back 18 months ago.  It being pink....a problem to sell?  Yeah....they could price it 5 cents, and it'd be a hard sell.

Third, a Covid test kit, for 1.45 Euro (this would have been 4.90 a box back two years ago).  

People worried or hyped up about Covid?  No.  I'd say out of every two bus trips I take.....some senior citizen German will be wearing a mask.  

It does come up in conversation occasionally.....but the worry factor on a scale of one-to-ten....is probably a minus-one.  

All this stuff left in warehouses?  Yeah, that's a serious leftover issue.  Somewhere in the region.....there's probably a hundred pallets of masks still lingering.  

That January Train Attack

 Back in January, I essayed about a attack on a German train up in Hamburg (2 dead, 5 wounded).  Guy was a refugee type....from Palestine (2014).  Cops noted that the guy had a serious drug habit before a jail-period, and they think upon release....he went back into the habit.  They seem to believe the train attack came mostly from the drug effect.  

They also spoke of mental issues.

Today, police reported that one of the five who'd been wounded (52-year old German woman) apparently committed suicide.  

They can't say if she was bothered before the train attack, but one might assume that events on the train added up to be a lot of PTSD 'pain'.  

The Palestinian guy?  Sitting in a mental ward somewhere.

Prime News Germany: Channel One/ARD

Ten things you probably might notice: 

1.  Prime news runs from 8:00 PM to 8:15.  No advertisements/commercials.

2.  Final 20 seconds is weather.  The 30 seconds prior will typically be a sports update.

3.  If there was some colossal event in the day....there will be a Brenn-point (add-on) at 8:15 and it might go from 10 to 20 minutes.

4.  The person there is a 'reader'.....meaning not a full-up journalist.  Over a typical month....there's probably six readers on 'contract'.  They usually show up about an hour prior to the news piece....read the script two or three times, and then deliver the text.

5.  If you tried to compare the ARD 8:00 piece and the ZDF 7:00 piece....basically the same but they will select different news to report.

6.  Don't go expecting the 15-minute piece to even have 50-percent German news.  

7.  They generally spoon-feed Germans on locations of the world that are not that known....meaning they will throw a map up and identify the Asian or African or South American country location.

8.  Germans over the age of fifty mostly watch the ARD 8:00 prime news.  Under-age-30?  A lot less.

9.  ARD will run a charity donation page if some big disaster has occurred.

10.  Video-feed from US sources on US stories?  Typically from CBS or CNN. 

Three Observations

 1.  ARD news this AM.....had a piece and talked about ongoing conversations within the postal system.  Chief topic?  To cut cost.....Monday delivery to be tossed.

It would appear that the Post would open on a Monday....just to take in mail....no deliveries.  

Odds of this happening?  Ten years ago....1-percent chance.  I think presently, the Germans are pretty serious about this, and it's pinging near 50-percent.

2.  Heat-pump law advancing?  Well...yes and no.  They are still talking and the idea was that they'd pass something prior to the summer break.  

The fact that more than half the nation is skeptical about the discussions?  Yeah, this is now a major problem.

The fact that wood chips would be outlawed (in the mix now)?  Most people have brought up in Bavaria that a fair number of homes are augmented by a natural gas and wood chip/pellet system.  Things seem pretty unsure at this point about how the law will read.

3.  ARD ran a piece yesterday....over the entire nation now...for the summer period, they are missing 3,000 lifeguards at present.

Part of this is a lack of the lifeguard certificate. Other issue...for the whole summer, for the part-time job....your max take-home is around 2,200 Euro.  

Personally?  Another odd part is that the job has now taken up what you'd consider police-duty.....as bad-boy activities now erupt a good bit at public pools. 

What I expect by summer of 2024?  Rates for pool use will go up (I'm guessing 40-percent), and the lifeguards will see a 25-percent pay increase for next summer.