Remember That Berlin Power Outage

Back on the 3rd of January (2026)....a massive power outage occurred in Berlin.  Terror-act.  Around 40k households affected, with 2k business operations shutdown.

So police have been investigating.

They have come to some odd conclusion....identifying four left-wing extremists (2 men, 2 women)....who are allegedly responsible for the Berlin power outage.

Problem?  How the police came to this 'idea' is unknown, and presently....the four are using lawyers to sue....to prevent the evidence found during a raid from being used.

This raid?  Well....in March....a house in the Kreuzberg district was the target...but no one is saying this was related to the outage....may be a totally separate deal....where some phone record or email connected to the four.

End of Stade Story

 About three to four weeks ago...I essayed a piece over a killing....six dead social workers.  Turkish guy responsible....arrested and held.

Well....6 AM...jail-cell check....the guy is 'found' dead.

Cops investigating....suicide talk so far.

Issue remaining?  Well....he was connected up to some NGO in the area, and the driver of the car....was connected to the NGO, and some local political figure.

Boozing Story

  Mid-October....the Bahn (railway folks) will mandate....NO booze consumption within all train-stations of Germany.

If you look back to May....there were a dozen-odd stations  that went 'early' to no booze (Berlin's Zoo and Ostbahnhof stations for example).

This being a no-consumption 'end'.....that sales are still possible? Yes.

Accepting?  Well....so far....there's mixed reaction.

Folks on long journey situations....who have a two-hour pause before the next 'leg'....aren't going to be happy.  

Folks returning home from work, and used to having a quick beer in the 'home' station?  They won't be accepting this.

All due to out-of-control boozing?  Yeah....no one argues much over that. I sat in a Hamburg station last year, with twenty-odd folks in a state of drunkenness....all easily within my 100 ft view.

Something new....out-of-control drinking?  I would strongly discount that. Even in 1978....around Munich, Frankfurt and Koln stations....you'd notice hefty consumption.   It's simply that the modern era isn't willing to accept drunkenness.

If you were carrying a flask, and sitting on a bench...waiting for your train? There's some statistical odds....the Bahn cops will notice you and hand you over to the police, with some type of charge possible.

Who benefits?  Well....if you ran a pub about 30 meters away from the station....you have a chance to bump up sales.

My advice....if you need a 'nip' to ease your stress....buy some cannabis-gummis and pop two or three.

Three Observations

 First, it is rather amusing....the whole 'Russia-is-safe' script is crapped out now....because gas-station-chaos.  Every week...more stations go to limited purchases.  You can figure  in a average week....there's probably three hours  minimum...wasted...waiting in line.

Second, because of surrogacy, politician Jens Spahn is 'gone'.  Odd  questions now pop-up.  So.....the infant having German citizenship....even though Jens and his spouse are not married to the lady involved (the lady is American)?   Yeah. Some are asking how.  I'm going to make a prediction....30 years from now....the Jens kid will be a politician.

Third, it came up via a poll.....only 58-percent of Germans are against their party being in a coalition with the AfD Party.....meaning 42-percent are supportive of the idea.  State by state?  You might find 3 or 4 states where more than 60 percent support the coalition idea.

Is There A Test For Paranoid Schizophrenia?

About every month or two....there's some story in the German news....some attack on a German....with a knife involved (usually).  If you follow the story over the next couple of months....the German judge has 'bound' the guy over to a mental clinic for a 30-day exam.  With one exception that I know of....the vast majority of endings end up with the clinic director stamping the guy paranoid schizophrenic. 

The letter goes to the judge, and a month or two later....the charges are dismissed and the guy is 'bound' (in a permanent way) to some German mental clinic. That's usually the end of the story.

Over the past month....I've put a couple of hours in...reading up on schizophrenia.

First....how it develops.  It's basically a mix of genetics, brain chemistry, and environmental triggers.  You could live in a pretty low-key/low-stress situation and marginally ever show schizophrenia. The more stress you mix in....the more likely of a uncontrolled situation.

Second....there is NO real test to determine your level of schizophrenia.  You can run blood and urine tests to check for drugs, alcohol, or other chemical imbalances. You can run imaging tests (MRI or CT scans) and EEGs (brain activity tests) to rule out brain injuries, strokes, tumors, or epilepsy.

I worked with a guy who'd had a stroke....over the course of three months....he developed full-blown schizoprenia....to the level that you couldn't trust the guy.

Third, you could survive with light schizophrenia.....keeping to a zero-drug lifestyle, and NO alcohol.   The minute you add to your lifestyle....your odds increase.

Fourth....genetics plays a role.  If your dad or mom had it.....higher the probability that you have it.

So I've come to the reality....yeah, there probably are hundreds of 'new-residents' of Germany with schizophrenia....adding alcohol/drugs to their lifestyle....hearing 'voices' and are not in control of themselves. 

Resolving this trend?  I've come to the point....you can't really fix this.

I also believe.....after five to ten years of holding some guy in a mental clinic....under very tight controls (no booze/no alcohol)....the management folks will eventually sign off on some release form....going to a German judge to release the 'safe' guy.  Naturally....a month or two into freedom....he'll find temptation (booze/alcohol), and buy a knife. You know the scenario. 

The odd end-point?  Well...the schizophrenia guy would be fairly safe....in a zero-alcohol/zero-drug landscape....like in the 'old' country.  But in Germany....he can never be truly safe.

This Egling Attack Story

 I chatted about it earlier today.  Police have released a piece on who they are looking for:

- approximately 1.80 to 1.90 meters tall, of dark skin type, with a slim build and short, dark hair. 

= speaks broken German and was wearing a gray fleece jacket and jeans.

Village size?  Well....around 5,200 residents....so I'd say it's not 'small'.

Oddly, no one has said much on 'knowing' the kid.

Five Thoughts Over World Cup 'Action'

 1.  Half-time 'show' for last night....final game....basically a circus atmosphere.  

2.  The wife and I watched sixteen games over the past month.  The least 'thrilling' game was last night....Argentina versus Spain.  You could have skipped the whole first half entirely.  How Argentina made it to the final sixteen teams?  Unknown.  

3.  This fight-business at the end of the Argentina-Spain game....probably the more thrilling...of the game itself.  Bad behavior on Argentina's part....I'd red-card every member of their team.

4.  'Freddy' the German....was probably the biggest draw for me....getting his daily reports on great things to see.....via Twitter.

5.  I'm pretty convinced that AI has to arrive and replace the FIFA ref's....ASAP.

20 July 2026: Germany: 4 Things

1.  Saarbrucken area...Saturday evening....Syrian couple  (early 30s)....argument develops. Husband threatens the wife with knife.  She ends up on the roof of the building....chased around by the husband there....falls 8 meters to the ground.  Injured.

Cops arrive with the ambulance crew.  Husband arrested.

2. Village fest in Egling (Bavaria).  Some nutcase comes at 8 folks with a knife.  They are wounded but survive....nutcase escapes.  No ID yet on the guy.

3.  Weekend meeting of CDU.....they say they want a national policy....if there are any attacks and the police determine the origin of the attacker.....that it should be released to the public.

Nothing from the SPD or Greens, but I  would guess they aren't that thrilled over the idea.

Even if the police release a statement with 'origin'.....I have my doubts that the public TV folks would talk about it.

4.  Half-time show at World Cup....I would estimate that  more than 50-percent of German viewers were annoyed by it.