France Topic

 The French parliament law commission (this week) stood up and adopted a draft-bill that would allow non-EU foreign nationals the right to vote and stand in municipal elections.

I'm not saying the National Assembly will pass the draft-bill....just that it will arrive and be discussed.  At best, I'd give it  a 20-percent chance of passing.

Key deal? Well...you'd have to hold a visa, and have a French ID.

This concept drifting over into Germany?  I pondered this.

Neither the CDU-CSU Party or SPD Party would NOT openly discuss this....in fear of driving more voters to AfD.

The Green Party or Linke folks....might discuss it....but they'd likely have the same fear...driving voters to AfD.

In France?  I would imagine just having this draft bill discussed.....might drive several million to the far-right.

Mandelson Odd Development

  I follow Brit news to a moderate degree.  About a month ago, I noted that British politician Peter Mandelson came out and said....he's not really in the Epstein files because he was gay.

To be honest....I thought that probably one-half of all Labour  Party big-wig guys....were gay.  Why he had to make that statement at the time....seemed a bit odd to me.

So this week....the picture comes out...from a dozen-odd years ago....Mandelson standing in a hotel-like room....young gal (face blacked-out)...with him in his  underwear.  Obviously a 3rd person in the room....taking pictures of the older  guy and younger gal.

I sat there thinking....well, if he's gay, then the lusty-moment in the hotel, with the gal in some bathrobe....makes no sense.

But then it struck me....if you were regular-straight Brit guy...wanting to progress up the Labour Party 'path'....then you need to fake-gay your situation.

So the past 20-odd years....Mandelson was fake-gay?  I'm of that opinion.

But if you accept this concept.....of the top 100 Brit guys in Labour...might there be forty-odd guys who are also fake-gay?   And was this the chief 'drive' of  Epstein (and his team)....to train guys to be fake-gay? 

Then finally in this thinking mode....who was the gal in the robe? For some reason...based on height...I'm of the mind that she's likely 18 or older.  Was she some model, actress, or game-show-participant?  Did she go off and later marry some well-to-do fake-gay guy, or prince?

Just some things I wonder about.

Should Twitter/Google/Instagram Just Up And Leave Germany, France And The EU?

For about a year, I've been pondering this idea....more so since Christmas.

Going back to the 1990s as new technology came upon the continent...it's been a dangerous path. Every time that some new App or platform came to Europe....there were two groups in the shadows.

First group?   The opposers....they simply saw the platform/App as something  Europeans didn't need.  Oddly, within two years...around a quarter of folks had picked up the App and were thrilled/happy with what they saw.   

If you asked Germans about WhatsApp....statistics suggest that three out of four use it to some degree, and in the 12-to-20 age group....it might be 90-plus percent using it daily.

Second group?  The regulators....they wanted rules and limits.  Some made sense....some made no sense.  

Having sat and watched all of this unfold....there are three observations:

1.  While there are German, Swedish, Dutch and French Apps developed and mingled into the 'bunch'....the Americans were mostly in the lead position (I give some China some credit for TikTok).

I've often wondered if the opposers/regulators delayed European deliveries to such an extent....that they always came a year to three years 'late'.

2.  If you lined up a hundred Germans...ages 12 to 30....they are now firmly tied into various platforms/Apps.  The minute that Smart-phones went 'cheap'....you put  a tool into everyone's hands.  Statistics show most Germans in their 20s/30s....spend an hour a day (minimum) on some platform/App.

I'm not saying everyone is hyped-up on Twitter....they aren't. But Grok/AI suggests that around 16-million Germans use it weekly.

3.  Finally, I'll point this out.....in 16th-century Germany (part of the Holy Roman Empire), there were efforts to control and censor printing presses, driven by fears that the rapid dissemination of ideas could undermine religious, political, and social authority.

The 'bosses' viewed unchecked knowledge as a threat. 

This stemmed from the invention of the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 in Mainz, which exploded the availability of books and pamphlets, fueling the Protestant Reformation and challenging the Catholic Church's monopoly on information. 

It's just odd to bring up this printing-press story and compare against Apps/platforms....basically the same threat...500 years apart.

So to end this commentary....yes, I believe that Twitter, Google, Instagram, TikTok, and crew.....should leave Europe.  They should block off the region and allow the continent to only step forward at their own pace.

I'd even use a Star Trek logic....that you shouldn't announce yourselves to some  culture/society...unless they meet x-conditions (prime-directive BS).  

Using 1500s logic....religious leaders at the time argued that mass printing led to errors, low-quality content, and the "debasement" of learning by making it accessible to the uneducated masses.  We should just admit.....there are some uneducated masses, and not waste time or resources. 

TV Chatter

Late night viewing last night....was crap.

Basically, you had a choice of after-action-Jungle-Camp, or the public forum show "Maybrit Illner." 

For a brief period....maybe twenty minutes....I tried to watch Illner's show.

This was a debate of sorts....centering on "Work harder – save prosperity?".

Lifestyle got uttered a number of times and in different ways.  The arguments mostly centered around a fairy tale environment where you worked less hours....felt less stressed, and produced the same quality of service/work.

At some point...I grasped that the folks at the table were all politicians, and whatever they uttered....didn't really fit with reality.  I flipped the channel over to Jungle-Camp-BS.

So a secret reality I'm going to let you in on....we are approaching in seven years....a point where robots will replace one-third of German jobs.   This whining about stress, over-worked conditions, and lifestyle?  It'll end in a abrupt fashion...with 'Huns' an 'Freda' standing there....without much to do.

Forum Chatter

 The 'boss' of the Bahn (German railway system) is going to hold a public forumto assemble solutions/fixes to violence onboard trains/subways and in train stations.  

This is basically a reaction to the assault/murder of the conductor in the Landstuhl area this week....while conducting a ticket audit.

Over the past dozen years....counting bus and train audits....I've probably witnessed around seven 'events' where people lacked tickets.  None turned violent.  Personally, I think nation-wide....if you really dug into it....there's probably one-per-day where some escape is attempted, or some threat of violence occurs.   

Fixing this?  I'm not sure what you can do...other than having two-man teams conduct the ticket-audit and have them 'armed' in some fashion (taser for example).

I pondered upon this...having traveled in the Netherlands on trains. First, they have a ticket-swipe situation (turnstile) as you reach the start of the platform.  You swipe....if you enter and skip the swipe....there's likely some agent to approach you on the platform and already engage there. They also seem to have a fair amount of posters warning of issues if attempting a free-ride.  Oddly, they've gone to AI-use....figuring the more prevalent routes/stations with issues....putting more audits into effect.  

I'll also point this out....where you have violence on the audit-guys....it's always a male-thing.

This public forum might be an interesting event to view.

Election Chatter

 In mid-March....there's a city election in Wiesbaden.  This past Tuesday....I opened the mail box, and found a note from the city....official-looking.

I had my German wife confirm the wording....yep, they've invited me (non-German, auslander) to participate in the city election.  To be clear....there is a sub-council  under the city council....where 15 to 20 folks (non-Germans) have a voice for non-Germans in Wiesbaden.

I looked up the situation...roughly 13-odd parties.  Some represent Syrians...some Ukrainians...one CDU-related...one related to AfD....the WIF-folks (for women's rights), and so on.

I'm not really hyped-up to vote.   It's not like they would resolve the pothole situation, crime in the city, or invent more parking spots.

I'll decline this opportunity....got enough on my plate to vote in Alabama.

Example of German 'Fake-Outrage'

 Around 2000....Google came out with overhead imagery....tied to the maps program.  So in effect....you could browse your German neighborhood, and see what the back-yard looked like...of the guy two blocks over.

It took around two to three weeks for this to hype-up, and become a top-ten national problem....talked about via public TV forums.

So the lead-off solution...take it all down....no imagery..

For a brief period, this was discussed....they (Goggle) said they'd just take down imagery of Germany only....leaving all other nations up.  At this point,  the Germans (politicians) realized how silly they'd look.

Solution 'B' came up....Google would have a German office and if you (the owner  of such-and-such property)....lodged a complaint...then  Google would blur the property noted.

I surveyed this discussion and solution....about three months after it was finalized.  I looked over my village of 200 homes....none blurred.  I looked over Kaiserslautern...noting maybe three that were blurred.  Mainz? Over a 20-minute period.....I found maybe five blurred.

No one ever from Google or the German authorities ever went public to say the national number....but I seriously doubt more than two-thousand lodged a complaint. Chief reason?  I suspect a lot of these folk sun-bathed in the nude in the back-yard...not wanting imagery of them in the nude.

All this hyped-up chatter that comes up weekly?  Could it be that fewer than 1-percent of people are hyped-up?  Well....you don't know.  

5 Feb 2026: Germany: 5 Things

 1.  This AM, I noted a news piece....registration at German driving schools...in the past 2 months....plummeting to rock-bottom.   Almost no one signing up for driver's training.

So gov't chatter....that they might 'cover' for some of the cost.  This BS was barely mentioned, and probably wouldn't happen until late 2026. At present pace....a fair number of driver training businesses might go under by that point.

The question is....where do you find a couple hundred million Euro?

2. This attack on the train in the Landstuhl area....36-year old Turk-German conductor dead.  When the police came to inform his dad....he had a heart-attack.

Lot of Germans reacting to the attack on the guy ('enough' is the comment).  If you asked me what may develop here....armed escorts with the conductors, and some rough treatment of  'free-riders' in the future.

3. The Chancellor gave a talk yesterday....indicating another pension reform situation.  In this 'path'...he wants to work on a private (IRA-like) situation.

I'll just say this....27 years ago....the SPD  gave a talk about creating such a plan, and it failed miserably.

4.  Talk by CDU-CSU-SPD....tobacco tax to be increased.

5. Epstein chatter: coming up in a WELT piece....fair number of German businessmen, academics, and banking officials were connected.