1. Odd weather. Regional weather chatter (HR) from last night....said from 1Jan to now.....half as much rainfall/snowfall as normal. Whole valley, from Frankfurt to here....marginally in a drought. Keeps things green only with a brief shower about every two weeks. One thunderstorm over the house since late November.
Last winter was to the extreme on snowfall....most in forty years in the region.
2. New EU rule....driving licenses will be valid for a period of 15 years. Also....some type of digital license will exist....that you can carry on your cellphone (doesn't sound like they will implement this in 2025).
3. After 5 years of review...Constitutional Court of Germany....will decide upon the legit nature of the Solidarity Tax (something left over from the Kohl era). Kohl passed the legislation....with a end-date....to rebuild Eastern Germany. End-date came, and gov't constructed a extension. This extension is talked about as being illegal.
Amount collected yearly? 13-billion Euro.
4. YouGov poll: CDU-CSU at 26 percent, and AfD at 24 percent.
5. 'Late Night Berlin' talk show....ending. Klaas Heufer-Umlauf says he's tired of the show after 7 years....burned-out.
6. WELT item: German coffee prices are way up over the past year. In some cases....ultra-premium coffee running at 10 Euro per pound.
7 Reich Citizens' court-case continues on (might even last into 2026)....accused former German soldier was scheduled to testify yesterday.
Court folks more or less witnessed hours-long nonsense. Based on commentary....I'd say that he could make a case for 'crazy-crazy-status'.
8. NTV item from this AM: Europe apparently lags behind the US in development of military technologies. So this idea of the US leaving NATO and Europe filling the 'hole'.....is starting to worrisome.
9. The pricing of the monthly Deutschland Ticket (ride freely over all of Germany, buses and trains....except for high-speed rail)....for 2025/2026....to be 58 Euro. CDU-CSU-SPD will sponsor extra funds to keep the ticket going.
10. Serious discussion underway with the coalition talks.....SPD wants a speed limit of 130 kph on autobahns. CDU-CSU so far....says 'no'.
I expect some urbanization rule to be resolved, and around 40-percent of German autobahns to have a limit.
11. EU in some planning stage....preparing a program to prepare citizens of Europe for war. Hate to suggest it.....but it sounds more like a PR-program with public TV in each country carrying the war-prep content.
Within German society....I'd say this might freak out 5-percent of society, and make for additional mental issues.
12. Sigmar Gabriel (former party-boss of the SPD Party), gave a talk two days ago....calls for a German recruitment program for skilled American workers. Says there's opportunities with frustrated Americans (the anti-Trump crowd).
I paused over this idea.
First, the language issue comes up and you'd be talking about a year-long language class. Second, for a number of folks from California/NY....pay-scale probably can't be matched by the Germans.
Then tax chatter will come up.....but for the most part, if you are a California or NY resident....you are used to the German-level of taxation.
At best, I might suggest maybe 3,000 Americans in the mindset....to go to this extreme level, and seek jobs in Germany.
Housing shock? Well....this will be the painful point....where you realize that things are screwed up.
13. Protests in Turkey....7th night in a row.
Public support for Erdogan? It's less so than at any point in the past 15 years. This idea of the Constitutional change coming.....allowing him another chance to run for office? I'd say at this point....almost zero chance it'll pass.
14. Conscription (draft) for women in Denmark.....set for 2026....to start.
15. ARD item, almost every second person in Germany...over the age of 16....has experienced age discrimination of some type.
The 16-to-44 group? More so......the over-65? Only one-third of them reporting this.
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