19 August 2026: Germany: 5 Stories

 1.   Italo (private Italian rail service)....says it plans to a launch long-distance service in Germany in early 2028.

Routes?  Munich-Cologne-Dortmund and Munich-Berlin-Hamburg, 

So like you'd expect....Deutsche Bahn (German railway) is going to court to halt the deal.....saying there's over-capacity allocation problems.

Would Germans dump Bahn....going to Italo....on these routes?  Well....if service was on time, and lesser chaos....yeah.   Cost factor?  Unknown.

2.  If you go dig into fire statistics data...for Bavaria....forest fire damage in the state of Bavaria has fallen by 65 percent in recent years.

Some of this is probably luck....some management practices....some relates to getting crews quickly out to a fire zone.  But what is curious....the state government says it intends to provide at least one billion euros annually for climate protection and climate adaptation....not fire protection.

3.  State of Bavaria says it will investigate/prosecute gas stations that increase gas prices after 12-noon.  National law says from 12-noon on....you can only lessen the price....resetting each day at noon,

4.  Odd evolution going on in Germany....with day-time bars trending (instead of night-time bars).

Prosecco or a Spritz.....now popular and preferred by younger drinkers in Germany.

5.  2.6 earthquake in my region (about 15 miles away)...at 8 PM last night.

Italy And Germany: Issues

 Italy  is currently saying....it will refuse to take back migrants from Germany who originally arrived in Italy (the EU mandates this). 

Why?  Well...Giorgia Meloni says that German aid organizations have brought more than 22,000 migrants to land in Italy.  Meloni wants some type of “compensation.”  You know....a bribe.

Any truth to the aid organizations being German-led?  Various rumors have suggested NGO groups....getting German gov't funds.

What'll happen? Nothing....Italy will keep the 'herd' in Germany, and Germany will just keep the 'herd' happy....while waiting for AfD to politically change things.

Something I Noted Today

 US workers...who are classified as functionally illiterate (low-IQ)....earn roughly the same per hour...your regular average craftsman in the UK (FT article).

Screwed-up?   Well....no  one says how long  ago this trend started (I'm guessing already in 2006....it was heading this way).

How long can this spiral last? Thats the question I'd ask.   If I were the Brit in this mess.....I would not remain.

Just Odd: Hayden Panettiere

 Last night (Monday)...both ARD/ZDF public  TV networks gave a update/send-off to the death of Hayden Panettiere.

I sat there....a bit amazed.  

If you had gathered up a thousand Germans....there might have been five that knew some detail of her acting career, or her brief relationship to Wladimir Klitschko (Ukrainian).

Her two TV shows (Nashville, Heroes)?  Neither were that popular in Germany.

Social media hype?  That really didn't figure into this either.

It seemed like.....they were told to fill air-time, and this was 'it'.

Two Observations

 1.  Last night (Monday)....ARD/ZDF (the two public TV networks) did 2-to-3 minute updates/introductions of the Brit Cambridge professor....Jayson Arday....and his funeral.

Up to this point....they had simply not mentioned the guy or his falling-out over the thesis, or public negativity over the guy.  If you asked Germans....I would imagine fewer than 2-percent of society had some idea of who the guy was.

The fact that Brits had been hearing the story for almost four weeks?  Yeah....that was the odd part of the introduction.

So ARD and ZDF tried to be mixed/fair....over the guy, and his issues. The bulk of his fake stories?  Never mentioned.

Germans trying to connect for/against the guy?  Marginally there, and maybe ARD/ZDF are simply trying to tell a one-time story, and never engage upon this ever again.

2.  E-scooter accidents getting hyped news-wise?

Yeah.....2025's accident rate was announced....16,496 accidents were noted (meaning folks had to go off to a hospital).  

There's now talk of safety mandates possibly coming.....forcing folks to wear helmets, and maybe setting a age limit.

I sat and looked 2021 rates....near 5,535 folks going to a hospital.

If you walk around Wiesbaden now....you tend to notice a fair number of juveniles/young-adults....on E-scooters.  Maybe one person out of forty....wearing a helmet.

18 August 2026: Germany: 7 Stories

 1.  Leipzig police released a study/report.....admitting that four crime families/syndicates now exist in the city.  Oddly....the four families are Syrian (meaning they didn't exist prior to 2012, and have taken over crime operation in the past decade).

Total membership within the four?  They estimate 1,000 members.

That this was probably 'known' five years ago?  Well....yeah, that might be difficult politically....to admit this to the public.

What now?  No one really says.  I would imagine that the federal police have to step in...bring in some team for six to twelve months, and do some major take-down operations.  Now....you might ask....from the other 30-odd metro cities in Germany....do they reflect the same issue, and find that no one really wants to discuss matters.

2.  Massive drone attack on Moscow?  Well....the talk this AM...from Monday evening reports....620-odd drones were used on a Moscow attack.  

3.  There's a German promi (C-list) that is fairly well known for surgical upgrading on her body.

Well...this gal....(Gina-Lisa Lohfink) is reported to have gone off to the Dominican Republic to fix what was a butt-enhancement 'problem'....apparently had the surgical procedure for 'repair', and then later while relaxing (I assume at some hotel)...the wounds 're-opened'....causing another emergency.

For some odd reason....probably around 5-to-10 percent of Germans get into the sensationalism of this kind of stuff.

4.  Reading through German social media.....a recent hype/upswing has started....going negative about masculinity-influencers.

I paused over this.  Apparently, there is some perception (perhaps fear) that social media influencers are now active....trying to convince young German men....to be less 'soft' and more 'manly'.  This apparently worries some segment of German society.

To believe in this concept....you'd have to ask....over the past decade, was there an effort to 'soften-up' German guys?  If so....would the masculinity-influencers simply returning them to a normal state of mind?

5.  The big fear building up over the Saxony-Anhalt state election (3 weeks away)?

Well....AfD says....if they win and can run things without a coalition....they will cut/dissolve public TV (meaning regional MDR will go away).

Oddly, there is a massive amount of coverage over the election by MDR (more than usual), and you get the impression that management is pulling every gimmick possible to ensure less votes for AfD.  

6.  WELT article this AM....numbers worrying German authorities.  Exceptionally high numbers of 20-to-24 year old Germans....having zero job-training, no certifications, and currently unemployed (meaning they collect social welfare money).

7.  There is a growing belief that if Saxony-Anhalt's state election goes to AfD...with a 45-percent win (most polls show them presently at 43-percent)....they will not have to form a coalition, and will lead the gov't alone.

This group....with this belief.....say that once this occurs....Chancellor Merz (CDU) is probably finished and would resign within 90 days.  

I'm not really in this stage of belief....almost all polls show a margin that a 'absolute-win' is not possible, and that the 2nd-place CDU would form a gov't with the SPD, Linke and Greens.  BUT...I would agree...a AfD win and enough to avoid coalition talks....puts Merz in a fairly weakened position.  

Who would replace him from the party?  No one really says.   

Heat Regulating Constitutional Change?

This AM....I sat and read a brief story via ARD (Channel 1, public TV).  The SPD Party (left-of-center) is writing up a draft plan....which relates to a constitutional amendment they are proposing....over heat-waves.

You will apparently have 'rights'....it's just unclear how the wording will be and how drastic this might go.

The term 'combat heat'....is mentioned in the news item....but lays out no real 'fix'.

The chaos in this?  Well.....you just don't know.

I'm guessing work is halted at some temp (probably 34C - 93F).  That might include school, funerals, hospital operations, regular work, farming, etc.

Compensation?  Who will pay?

A top three thing for election-BS?  I could imagine at least twenty-odd things more important. AfD countering this?  Unknown.  

Twelve Odd Political Trends You See Developing In Germany

 1.  There is some trend where hyped-up issues that ONLY affect metro-cities (and their voters)....have zero affect or hyped-up nature for mid-sized towns or villages.  This sets some parties apart.....where they can't sell their brand, or hype.  Some villages would be super-happy....if they just had a single bus route/schedule....stopping/leaving....a dozen times a day.....going 'somewhere'.  The same village will tell you they haven't had an assault/robbery...since 1967....mentioning the guilty party by his first-name.

2.  Crime/drugs....are probably listed as a top five problem....with most cities trying to show you statistics that it hasn't gone up much in ten years.  However, if you back to West Germany/East Germany days (before 1990)....there's a serious difference.  I'm not saying things were 'better' or 'different'....just that older people note this odd trend.

3.  There is some type of fascination starting up....that the German federal government....can resolve/fix....all problems.  The same type of fascination exists for the EU as well. Germans can't really say how lawyers in gov't seem to have any talents other than arguing or debating.

4.  Job losses are starting to be noticed, and parties are trying to invent resolutions.  Whatever the German market is selling (selling for several decades)....it's now in poor shape to produce and sell at a profit today.  Matters seem locked onto this trend.

5.  China, competition, AI, Trump, AfD, money-laundering, Putin's Russia, and capitalism....are all pretty much 'enemies-of-the-state' now.  The 8 PM ARD nightly news will usually have at least one 'enemies-of-the-state' element.  

6.  Pretty much the majority of Germans now agree....things are too much regulated.  Yet....stopping the regulations or dissolving them....is nearly impossible.

7.  Germans seem fixated that any time you have a knifing incident or car-assault-attack....the guilty party will confess to hearing voices, be radicalized, be male, or be victims of long-term paranoid schizophrenia.  For the slightly-to-the-left or slighty-to-the-right....it's impossible to not see this identification or to avoid asking stupid questions.

8.  German public TV is not widely accepted as the 'simple-truth' anymore.  Probably half of society asks questions and sees some element of propaganda existing.

9.  The free-stuff social 'sales'.....probably peaked out ten to fifteen years ago in Germany.  Socialism has a cost element....you can only go so far with 'freeness'.

10.  If Putin were able to stage an invasion on Germany....based on polling....somewhere around 30 to 50 percent of 18-to-25 year old German males would agree to military service.  The rest would refuse to enlist/fight.  (Putin is probably is sitting there and kicking himself....could have just as easily invaded Germany instead of Ukraine, and wrapped up the job in 100 days)

11.  It seems likely within a decade....about one-third of all Germans (living) won't be able to read, write, speak....at a rate beyond the 5th grade.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing...just that it's hard to imagine the better Germans accepting the lesser Germans at the same 'level'.  

12. It seems obvious....within a decade....the German gov't will have to invent some dimwit-job profession because of AI consuming half the job market, and the bulk of youth potential are geared to 5th-grade level (at age 18-to-25).  Where these jobs will come from?  Unknown.