1. Huge anti-right demo from Sunday in Berlin/Potsdam....cops figure tens of thousands showed up for the anti-AfD Party demonstration.
2. Ministry of Transportation is discussing a draft law....mandating turn-signals on bicycles. You'd be given x-amount of time to correct/add a blinker.
3. There's a word I've seen thrown about here in Germany over the past year or two....'Gratismentalität'.
Translating it? Well...it comes say 'free mentality'. I know...it makes little sense.
It has this meaning that people want things to be 'free' or heavily discounted. A good example? From 2022....that 9-Euro-a-month Bahn ticket, where you could ride the bus/train network anywhere in Germany....with one monthly ticket of nine Euro. It was a 'free gift' by the government....but in the reality of things....it was not free, it had a cost involved (it was paid by tax revenue).
At least once or twice a week....I'll hear this uttered or read it somewhere.
4. There was a creation of a citizen's committee to advise the SPD-coalition gov't on new laws. Yeah, in a way....letting people think of things instead of politicians.
So three interesting suggestions out there:
- A age mandate for high-energy drinks of 16. Just about everyone believes there's too much caffeine/sugar in the high-energy drinks....but age limits should start where?
- Zero VAT (tax) on healthy foods? Yeah, they put that suggestion up. How you'd classify these is beyond me.
- Adding more inspection personnel for food safety inspections.
5. The state of Baden-Wurttemberg has come out and given a warning....try to avoid using electricity as much as possible because of the arctic-like conditions going on, and the grid is near 'full-use'.
That bad? December was an odd month where the temperature throughout Germany was moderate...meaning...really not that cold. But in the past seven days...it's gone to the extreme end of the scale.
6. Sunday night was a rare night....public TV offered up two full prime-time hours of handball championship (from here in Germany), and commercial TV offered up NFL action.
Over the past couple of years....it's surprising how many Germany are into both sports now.
7. Odd story via Focus.....a military expert came out and said that Russia in some way has desires to invade Europe....suggesting that Germany has 2 to 3 years to prepare for this eventual outcome.
I read the whole piece....marginally agreeing. It isn't that Germany needs to take huge steps....it's just that for three decades....they've been on the attitude that the Cold War was finished and lets not waste money on tanks or rockets.
To be honest, Russia's military hardware inventory has been heavily carved off because of the Ukrainians. I suspect...even if they had such a stupid desire....they'd have to wait at least thirty to forty years before they can replenish the inventory of theirs.
8. Odd accident at a 'Last Generation' protest/blockade. Vehicle driver losing patience did some wide turn....driving up over the sidewalk....hitting a Green Party politician and a journalist who were there on the sidewalk watching things unfold.
9. Lufthansa has said...over the next 2 years, it wants to hire 13,000 MORE employees (pilots, crew, maintenance, management, It, etc). Where they will find the bodies? Unknown....crisis of some sort exists in Germany with limited number of people to fill vacant slots.
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