15 Oct 2024: Six German News Stories

 1.  Germany's BND (their version of the CIA) chief stood up yesterday and said 'Russia will soon be capable of attacking NATO.'

BS?  Well....tank and APC-wise....no, there's no potential left for a offensive against NATO or for that matter....Germany.  Missile-wise?  There's still some potential left.  

Army manpower downsized?  That's another matter....Russia has probably given up 200,000 men for the war,  and there's not a unlimited number left.

2.  Trend reported yesterday for Germany....cash is trending less, and less.  Cards and cellphone-charge....more popular.

3.  SPD Party talking about a E-car 'bonus' (for 2025).  Even if you gave a 4,000 Euro deal/bonus....I don't think it'll flip public perception into buying E-cars.  Even for my German wife.....you could improve the bonus to 8k Euro, and it wouldn't matter.

4.  My wife works, and the company does well (still making a profit in 2024).  The 'boss' went to some political meeting in the past week....getting a financial prospective from them for 2025.  Key note?  For 2025....you (as a company and employee) need to give 100-percent, because it's going to be a fairly rough year. Probably wasn't the kind of report you wanted to hear.

5.  Commerzbank 'boss' says....no economic recovery signs in the near-future of Germany.

6. Brose in Germany....does the car-parts business.  They say they are cutting around 1,000 jobs shortly.

14 Oct 2024: Three German News Stories

 1.  Top forum show of the week came on last night (Sunday, Caren Miosga Show, ARD).  Key quote?  "We won't let Mrs Wagenknecht lead us around by the nose."  Spoken by CDU candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Fair amount of chatter about the idea of a coalition partnership with the BSW Party, both nationally and state-wise.

There are a couple of agreeable things, and then there's some short list of things that Wagenknecht may ask for.....that BSW can't get.

2.  Welt article this AM.  Turf war starting up in NW Germany, with Moroccan gangs in competition over drug-trade.

3.  Over the weekend....major mixed-martial arts match in Frankfurt.  This stuff was forbidden just a couple of years ago.....now draws 59,000 fans at the local stadium.

The Sharia Law Discussion

 There was a protest up in Hamburg yesterday.....Islamic crowd.....maybe in the 2k to 3k range of people gathered, and the main topic was.....'we-want-to-bring-about-Sharia-Law-to-Germany'.

Odds of this happening in Germany?  Pretty much ZERO.

But I'll make five observations:

1.  What you don't want in any society or country....is two divisions of rules/regulations and 'realities'.

In Germany's case, if you ever invented a path to this Sharia Law business....a bunch of Germans would ask....why limit this to two paths?  You'd see various religions start up with the claim that they deserve their own special laws, courts and police.

2.  Let's say someone found a law situation where you could invent Sharia Law here, but 25-percent of Turks and Syrians said 'no-way'.....they didn't want this.  How would you handle this?

3.  How would you handle Christmas and various Christian holidays in Germany?

4.  Would the Russian population in Germany (numbering near 3-million) request a rule that allows a Putin-led situation to be created in Germany?

5.  Would some Syrians stand up and ask the question....how did things get so 'fuc*ed-up' in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran?  If they eventually came to say Sharia Law contributed to the mess....how would you allow this idea  to be openly discussed?  

I will say this critical comment....the more this comes up in public forums.....the more disgruntled society becomes about integration and problems with society.  You are feeding AfD in various ways.

13 Oct 2024: Six German News Stories

 1. VW is planning a new E-car.....the 'Volksstromer', priced at roughly 20,000 Euro (basic model).  I'd describe as a two-door type car.  They seem to believe that the pricing is what matters.

2.  This deal to bring in US medium-range missiles (into Germany)....is getting a fair amount of push-back.  I would speculate that one of the five top voting issues for the fall 2025 federal election in Germany.  If you went to the parties, the anti-missile groups would be all of AfD, Greens, Linke, and BSW....with probably half the SPD voters being against the idea.  

3.  The SPD Party is preparing for the fall 2025 fed election....by talking up a tax-credit of some type...if you were to buy an E-car (would have to be a German-made car  of course).  

4.  WW II bomb found in Hamburg....near the Schanzen-quarter last night. Several thousand residents and visitors had to evacuate the 'party-zone' of Hamburg for a period of time.

12 Oct 2024: Five German News Stories

 1.  Focus had a piece....talking over the sixteen German states....who had a list of several hundred migrants with criminal records that they wanted deported, in a serious way.

So in the end (at least  so far).....the states have only been able to deport 28 'bad-boys'.

Challenges in the court system?  Yeah...it leads back to this point.  You also have the problem of the deportee's country....willing to accept them back.  

All of this leading to public anger?  Yeah, more or less.  

2. Opening on 17 Oct....the salary talks with the ATM folks will occur.  Some people speculate that the cost of using ATM machines in Germany will double, and this will lead back to public absorbing these costs.

3.  The coalition gov't of Germany has come to agree on a decline of 'funds' for those who fail in their asylum paperwork.  What this amounts to?  You will get enough for food-soap-and-bed.  

Some folks speculate that this will change the image of Germany as a welcoming state.  Some think that court action will occur.  But in most  cases....you still might be better off (safer) in Germany in such conditions....than in your homeland.

4.  This Krefeld arsonist story I talked about last week?  Well....the German police have reviewed this guy.....he has 27 identities.  This is starting to sound like a 4-star movie script.  Iranian guy.....long list of past criminal acts.  

5.  Hessen (the state) opened up their first ever 'homeland-defense' regiment this week....out of Wiesbaden.  

1,200 reservists are in the regiment.  In case of a crisis within the state, the regiment would be activated and on duty.

Kinda Funny (At Least In Germany)

Back around the early 1920s in Germany....a one-act opera was written and done...called 'Saint Susanna'.  Premier?  At the Frankfurt Opera House.

The basic storyline?  Some lesbian nuns....a hint of sex (at least as much as you could do in 1923).

This play was re-done  for 2024, and last night....the first show occurred.  Ambulances  were called....18 Germans in the audience were 'affected'.

Based on the description....the piercing business and some 'blood'....excited a few of the audience members, and they needed 'help'.

I paused over this....if this had been demon-movie from the US....shown to a German audience....probably half of them would have fainted and had to be carted out of the theater.  In this case, it was nude nuns on roller skates....getting sexed-up, and some piercing got them faint.

The original 1923 version?  It was probably a mild story-telling adventure, where you laid out a sexless society....triggered by celibracy....to get all hot-and-bothered over the lack of sex.

The 2024 version?  I think the folks dreamed up the maximum shock factor of 20-odd nuns all hyped up on sex, and how you can entertain folks with opera-music in the background, keeping this up for an entire show.  

Ticket pricing?  10 Euro.

Everyone in Germany now wanting to watch the wicked-nuns opera?  Well....this AM....based on thrill content and saying 18 folks requiring medical attention....yeah.

What I would ask (being curious)....were the 18 mostly men, or mostly women?  

11 Oct 2024: Eight German News Stories

 1.  I sat and read a piece out of Focus yesterday....Brit health item from 'Lancet'. What the medical folks have published....when you have Covid, it has a negative impact on the brain function. Long-term?  brain fog, concentration and memory problems, and other issues....that go for weeks and months. 

2.  Political 'bosses' of AfD Party (the right-wing guys) and BSW Party....had a conversation this AM.  Just a humble view....on a fair number of topics, they are agreeable.  Might shock some folks.

Highlight....the BSW 'boss' was asked how far 'right' her AfD 'boss' was, and the response was (1-10)....just a six.  

3.  The head of the Federal Employment Agency (for Germany) has spoke up today and said this idea of a 1,000 Euro bonus if you are minimum wage and hold down a job for 12 months....is a bad idea and she doesn't want to implement it.

4.  For new E-car  registrations in Germany....the trend is against Chinese-made E-cars and Tesla.  The big push?  VW's E-cars.

5.  Arsonist in action in Krefeld (227k size, in NW Germany).  Last night, this guy set 3 fires around town.  Police eventually cornered him....near a theater next to the city train station.  They gave warning to arrest....he reacted in some way to  hinder them, the police pulled pistols and wounded him.

Just based on the description....he seems like he used Molotov cocktails as the fire device.  

6.  Labor Minister pushing for a 15 Euro minimum wage in Germany.

7.   Stuttgart State Opera is offering up a new version of 'Sancta'....which there is a age limit (18 or above) to enter and watch it.

On the first evening....doctors were called for audience members (at least 18 folks got nausea and came near fainting).  From what people described....members of the cast get pierced on parts of their body during the show.  

Basic content of the show?  Catholic symbiology, naked nuns, lesbian action and some 'blood' (I assume fake props here).  Most of the review folks said the word 'explicit' in their commentary.  (probably was not for the faint of heart)

8.  Baden-Wurttemberg poll for state politics.....Greens go to lowest points since 2010....CDU Party is the big gainer. 

Weird Story: Hanau

 So....the official German census ended....with Hanau being noted as a 'lesser-city'....meaning that the city-believed population of 100,307 population was NOT correct.  The census gave them a population of 94,000 roughly.

Here's the thing....the census count means a lesser distribution of state/federal/EU funds, and Hanau officials are upset by this situation.  

This week....a request went to the census folks....the city of Hanau wants a explanation on how they 'count'.

How did Hanau believe in their 100,307 number?  Well....as you move 'in-and-out' of a city....you have to present yourself to the city government.  So the city believes that this mandated action is a correct number.  

How could Hanau lose 6,368 people?  I've yet to hear any logical explanation for this.

Guesses?  There might be a couple thousand students living in the area but registered elsewhere.   I also pondered over the idea....there's probably a thousand homeless people in the region, and the census folks might have failed to  count them.

If I were the city?  I'd go hire fifty folks for a month, and have them do a home-by-home actual count.  

If the city fails? Millions in Euro are lost on the city budget.