This Paris NFL Game

 Sunday....this coming weekend....the Steelers and Saints are scheduled to play....at Stade de France (Paris).

Stadium would hold 80,000.

Americans, with tickets and flights coming over?  NO ONE has any idea of the number.  Best guess?  I would suggest 10,000 but it's simply a guess.

Odds of a cancellation or movement of the game (outside of France)?  There's probably a NFL executive committee meeting today and tomorrow...with French police.  Even if they deployed 10,000 police....how would you leave your hotel...get to the stadium, and then return safely?  For this reason...I think it'll be moved to Germany....either Frankfurt or Munich.  Amount of hassle?  Well...if I had $10,000 spent on airline tickets/hotel reservations....I'd have to probably spend around another $5,000 minimum.

Odd problem.

Assurances by the police?  At this point....worthless.

Beyond the game.....talking over American tourists for the next month....to avoid Paris?  I'd start to speculate that most are looking for a alternate destination (maybe Barcelona or Den Haag).

Court Case

Court case in Konstanz opening up today.

Case?  Former paramedic (28 years old)....allegedly....performed cosmetic treatments on patients for a beauty chain in the local area.

The key issue?  He posed as a doctor (using the name "Dr. Lukas." Yeah, he was injecting botox and hyaluronic acid into folks.

So....charges?  One count of forgery....and 470 counts of aggravated assault.

If you go by the law (Section 224).....each agg-assault could get you six months (minimum) in jail (on up to 10 years).  So if convicted on the 470 counts....it might add up.

19 Oct 2026: Germany: 5 Stories

 1.  Last night (Sunday)....ARD (public Tv) ran a public-forum show....with two 'honored' guests from the SPD and CDU parties.  For about 20 minutes (I eventually gave up watching)....the moderator (Miosga) tried to get the two to explain why the two parties are so divided, and they mostly presented the image how they are so unified. 

2.  Milan, Italy had a French-style youth riot.  Italian police countered....arresting 160 'youths'.  

3.  There's a Bundestag seating study going around....suggesting that in the next election....both the CDU-CSU and SPD parties....will lose seats (meaning AfD gets seats from both).  

4.  The German Foreign Office....has apparently given some 'warning' to Germans in Paris....to behave in a 'nice' way.  Way it was said....some suggestion that maybe German youths are there in some riot mindset.  Just odd.

5. There's a story from Berlin that some AfD 'staff-members' (not representatives) within the Bundestag....got into a fight/brawl.  This apparently occurred around midnight....Wed....with alcohol being part of the 'trigger'.  Apparently, there's to be both a AfD investigation, and a Bundestag investigation.  

Frank-Dialogue Chatter

This AM....I read through Brit news, and noted that British Army Chief, General Sir Roly Walker, spoke up and said that political leaders in the Kingdom.....will soon begin a "frank dialogue".....with Brit folks about preparing for war.

I pondered upon this.  

He didn't say 'who' the war-party was....nor give some hint of frank-dialogue.  He didn't really say what preparation for war entailed.  

If I were Putin....I'd call up and ask if I could help the UK in some fashion.  Maybe offer to pretend to invade....just so Brits had something to focus upon.

The general making up something?  Well....you can't be sure about that idea.

Even if the PM said invasion was likely.....then what?  I'm guessing only a quarter of the population....including women....would be willing to pick up arms, and go to killing invaders.  I suspect one out of three Brits might welcome the invaders (suggesting Russians might be a better fit for leadership positions).

If some French or German general had spoken to some threat like this?  I might suggest only 10-percent of society would take them serious, but you wouldn't dare issue guns to anyone....out of fear that they'd try to take over the country before the invaders arrived.

We live in odd times.

Asylum Chatter

Going back to July/August....in Ceuta (the enclave of Spain in Morocco)....a bunch of folks (mostly guys) crossed over and started asylum applications.

So out of the 80,000 applications noted so far....around 70-percent say that they are primarily gay, and deserve asylum in Spain because they can't be accepted in Morocco.

I paused over this.

Roughly 56,000 guys....gay.

Oddly, 24,000 applied for asylum but proclaiming they were normal-regular-non-gay.

Spain asking for proof?  No....no one ever goes to sustain their version of reality.

Male population in Morocco?  Around 19-million.  So if you use the 70-percent number....it means that Morocco probably has a male gay population of roughly 13-odd-million.  Just something to think about.

This France 'Mess'

 Couple of observations:

First....it's a odd crowd on rioting....combination of students, left-wing agenda 'players', and ethnic non-French.  To some degree....the Macron gov't has some fear of the group (not readily explained).

Second, as for why students hyped-up the rioting?  Well...the French government supposedly spends too little to educate the children of migrants (that's the general French media message). But oddly....France spends between anywhere between two and 200 times more per student than the nations from which its migrants come.

Third, while all this rioting and destruction goes on....the French economy is marginally in any position to handle more taxes to fund the school BS.

Fourth, if you pay attention....most all of the rioting occurs in metro-cities.  Small towns/villages?  Zero action.

Fifth, some folks have started to ask if schools in metro areas stay in closed-down status....at what point do you consider the school-year worth dissolving, and telling those students to start over in 2027 (fall)?

Sixth?  No cross-over activity in Germany?  No.  I would suggest that if you had any riot behavior....German police would detain you....asking your parents to show up (if you were under 18), and face a judge for illegal rioting/protesting.

Topic of Natural Gas

 I saw this graph-chart today.....nat-l gas production....Russia and EU members....from 1990s to today.

So it's odd story....up until 2000....the EU out-produced on natural gas....then things shifted.

My theory on what happened?  I think Putin looked at the dynamics, and paid off in some way....various 'experts' for EU countries....to lessen production, and count on 'cheap' Russian natural gas to fill the void.

By 2010, Putin held all the 'aces' and EU countries were trapped.

The EU 'Unbanning' Gas/Diesel Cars?

 It was a shocker of a week.....the French-German effort was successful.....dissolving the ban in 2035 to dump gas/diesel 'new' cars.  Both countries were in a crappy futures market over the car market.

Where things went wrong?  I'd suggest three problems.

First, Chancellor Merkel's agenda to just FORCE a German ban on gas/diesel cars....wasn't widely supported by the public.  Presently.....2026.....around 89-percent of all cars registered...are gas/diesel....remaining number are hybrid-E-car types.

I don't think there was ever a clear understanding by the politicians (from left and right) over the technology, public reaction, or reality of car sales.

Second, various car companies in Germany spent billions (each) to have models ready to go.  They mostly all thought by 2020 to 2025....public attention would be massive (it didn't happen).  The money spent?  So far, that's not much to show for the effort.

Third, oddly enough....the Chinese reviewed the German technology...copying bit-by-bit.  They didn't have to invest the money that the German companies did.

So this unbanning.....is there time to reverse the damage?

I'm not really buying into it.  Both French and German companies were geared to E-car tech, and there's probably a funding problem in developing gas/diesel tech cars for the future.