I'm Sorry

 Over the past three or four days, I've viewed fifty-odd clips (from Twitter) of  Germans, Australians, Brits, Italians and Japanese...who were overcome with emotions over their trip to the US for the World Cup games.

Probably a quarter of the crowd were overcome with emotions.  They had weeks/months of their public TV folks telling/warning  of the 'terrible' America, and the stories were BS.

The food, the beverages.....the friendly nature....the happy enthusiasm....the grocery stories....everything was 'Disneyland-like'.  

I'm sorry.

Going back home.....will be hard for them.  All that public TV BS....will be ineffective.  Some will ask how  to get Fox-News.  Some will ask  how to make that tangy ribs sauce.  Some will have a taste for whiskey.

Yeah, we overdid it.....we made folks feel welcome.

Yeah, we did something terrible....making Trump's America look better than what the media suggested.

Fixing this?  How? 

Three Theories Of Mine

 1.  I think from the day (Sep 2023) that DFB hired 'coach' Nagelsmann for the national team....more than fifty sports-figures/journalists....just started laughing and knew the success story of Nagelsmann....was a bluff.

I think in June as the team arrived in the US to train....the failures of the team were obvious.

2.  Every time some German politician notes a successful reform-package....a clock starts ticking....to reform the reform-package....fixing the mess laying there.

3.  If you start counting across German new/media (I think).....a typical German.....gets forty-plus 'lectures' per week. Between age forty and fifty....half of German society can mute the lectures, and not pay attention.

I also believe the lecture-people condemn them as 'stupid'....when they are actually fairly bright....in muting worthless information.

Five Observations

1.  That Turk-German shooter from  Monday...in Stade....has a twist or two.

Back in 2021....this guy was in Turkey....and was detained/arrested by the Turkish cops....on sexual abuse of his daughter (this is a separate daughter from the German situation).  I asked AI on the age....but none of the Turkish newspapers noted this.

So he was held.....then one day....he escaped.  

I paused over this.....when you get detained and held in a Turkish jail....you don't normally escape.  In my mind....there's probably a fair amount of a bribe....where the door is left unlocked.  Oddly, after he escaped....being a German citizen....he went 'home'.  You would think....some Turkish prosecutor would have talked to the Germans and searched for the guy.  But 'no'....nothing much happened. 

All this connectivity to the NGO business?  Well....it makes you wonder.

2.  Klopp pretty much 'fixed' to be the new soccer coach?

There is this small matter....he has still some kind of continuing contract....where he can't coach another team.  

3.  No one yet seems able to explain the new sick-note procedure....where you MUST start the note on day one.

I asked my German wife....odds of me getting an appointment with our doctor....she responded.....'the staff won't answer until 9 AM....it's 50-50 if  you can get a appointment to be seen by 5 PM'.

This being done strictly by phone?  Well.....ethically, it's possible....just me telling the 'doc' I feel sick.

Coalition screw-up?  Yeah....this will be a major problem.

4.  One of the biggest fires in a decade or two....in Stuttgart last night.  Two warehouses in an industrial area on the Neckar River.  

5.  Drought continues on....my cherry tree has probably lost one-third of it's leaves now.  There's been two ultra-light rains over a 10-week period now.  Temps?  Fantastic....six days of 24 C to 28 c.

3 July 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

1.  Nagelsmann, the  German national team coach....got dragged into a 3-hour meeting with DFB 'top-brass' yesterday....having to explain how the team 'failed'.  Afterwards....they asked him to resign.

Reports from Sky this AM...say he's submitted his resignation.  Based on some estimates....he'd still walk away with 7-million Euro.

2.  Drought?  Well....weather folks are saying rainfall is lagging.  In my backyard....leaves falling off the cherry tree already.

3.  Reform package done on sick-leave.  On day one of feeling 'ill'....you need a doctor's note.  Some doctors are saying this will be impossible to accomplish.

4.  3-0, Spain wins over Austria last night. Most impressive team that I've seen so far.

5. WELT piece.....a regular scheduled freight train....take 6 days to travel 600 km.

6.  I watched a clip of 'waiting-for-fuel' in Russia this AM.....roughly a 28-hour wait until he could fuel up.  

German Soccer T-Shirts....Half-Price?

 Well....a major distributor brought this up yesterday....since the team is 'out'.

I asked the wife...if this would affect sports-viewing and marginal interest for the remainder of the games.  Answer:  'hell---yes'.

Even beer consumption will probably drop.

The Odd Connecting Story To The Monday Shooting

Well....it's odd to lay this out.

This Turk-German guy (born in Germany, ethnic status: Turk)....lives in Hannover. He was driven by a older gal (age 65), who was a migration policy activist....from a local NGO.

German federal program (financed)....called 'Democracy Live'.

The strange thing is that he (the shooter) was a German (born in Germany)....yet being handled/supported....as a immigrant/migrant.

No one says much....in the retreat/effort-to-leave-the-scene...but the gal (driver) had to hear the shots and know chaos was occurring.

Charges on her?  I seriously doubt it.  She simply believed in good intent (even if he had a open-file with the police....connected to some crime-clan operation).

For a normal German looking at the whole story....nothing makes much sense.

Who Will Be The Next German Soccer National Team Coach?

 Jürgen Klopp.  (My humble guess)

Management career: 2001–2008: Mainz 05 (considered a legend in Mainz), 2008–2015: Borussia Dortmund (considered a legend in Dortmund), and 2015–2024: Liverpool (considered a legend).

He 'retired' in 2024, and returned to the Wiesbaden....saying he was finished.

2 July 2026: Germany: 5 Stories

 1.  Weather folks anticipating 35-plus C temp's.....mid-July.  

2.  Job Center authorities in Neukölln....early Wednesday morning....did a 'audit' o a homeless shelter for fraud. Twenty-six folks  were noted 'gone'....explanation?  Well....they were on vacation.  How they could afford vacation? Unknown.

When they show back up....there's some explaining to do.

3. The DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund / German Football Association) headquarters in Frankfurt....got raided yesterday by police.

150 cops involved.....accusation?  Investigation into suspected corruption / granting and accepting undue advantages (Vorteilsgewährung / Vorteilsannahme) linked to UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany. 

It appears some type of possibly illegal or preferential internal allocation of thousands of tickets to favored guests.

WELT  says the suspects...include a 66-year-old German (former administrative employee from Gelsenkirchen, previously known in connection with fraud allegations).

Official response?  No-comment. 

4.  Lot of chatter over the contract of the German national team coach....very critical.  Even if they fire him....he walks away with 11-million Euro.

5.  That shooter guy (I essayed the story 3 days ago)....bought the pistol used....around 7-to-14 days prior....4,000 Euro. (Bild)

'Intent' will come up in the court business now.