29 Sep 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

1.  How this Fairford terror event 'flipped'.

Well...the five lads are part of a crime-group out of London....who market and sell stolen farm-diesel fuel. The terror story....at least by police standards...has fallen apart.

Odds of charges?  I'd give it 30-percent chance of charges being developed.

So they had three full-size vans....with fuel 'bladders' in each.  Some Brit did analysis...saying if there were heavily-loaded.....3,500 liters per van....the 'take' per van would be 4,000 to 5,000 Pounds (figure 4,660 Euro to 5,820 Euro)....per vehicle.

Two guys, with their crime group involved, and a middle guy....probably took 1,500 Euro each as their 'profit'.  Maybe if you were doing this 6 to 8 times a month....it makes sense.  Lot of risk for overloaded van-driving, if you ask me (as a kid on soybean farm....driving an overloaded truck at 45 mph and marginal braking power)

Weight risk and accident potential?  I asked Grok/AI to check the weight and van-standards.  It's badly over-weight, and would be a mess to drive in a safe manner.

End of the story?  Well....defcon Charlie is probably still in effect, and the 'real' terrorists....are somewhere out there...waiting.

The five guys?  If the fuel bladders were empty....there's no charges much that the police can dump on them.  

2.  The German couple who invented the Covid vax....shutting down one of their 'plants'....business has dropped big time.

3.  Rottweill (SW Germany)....woman wounded by gunshot.  

4.  Greece says it will form a deportation 'center' in Africa....whether the EU allows for this....unknown.

5.  Odd Sunday evening TV offering....two German commercial networks offered NFL football.

6.  Looking over a Berlin City election map.....the far outer east ring of the city....is where AfD got votes.  The middle seven suburbs....are where Linke Party voting was dominant.   

Four Humble Thoughts

 1.  UK going back to EU....UN-BREXIT?

The question should be...if you ran a election...could the re-join vote get 50-plus percent?

Then you need to ask....would EU look at matters and say 'no'?

Finally....if the UK rejoined....would France go and halt the migration-raft deal into the UK?  If not....why waste time discussing this (again)?

2.  If the Greens found themselves at 20-percent (ahead of the SPD and CDU-CSU, behind AfD)....would former alt-Chancellor Habeck get a call to 'come-back'?

3.  SPD talking of a retirement account....that parents could start for kids....at age 6?

Well....the topic has come up and some folks think it's a great idea....believing that a IRA-like deal....over 60 years....would be worth half-a-million Euro.  

But to be honest....50-percent of parents ain't got the money to run such an account (even 40 Euro a month would be a issue).

4.  In roughly 3 weeks.....all Bahn stations will forbid consumption within train stations.  

This Brit Farmer Gal

 Shortly after midnight....this Brit farmer gal left a party....probably having consumed an ale or two.  She rounds a corner, and there lay three white vans.  There's probably a 8-second jolt....something ain't right, and then she notices five young lads who probably aren't of the local surroundings

The farmer gal turns around....fumbles around with the smart-phone....tries to alert the base security folks (that fails), and reverts to the local police.  Roughly 25 minutes later...a couple of Brit police arrive....with guns, and take the five lads.

The farmer gal?  She wasn't done.  She used WhatsApp and alerted everyone in the village area....'lockdown' and be prepared.

She probably didn't get home and chilled-out to sleep...until 3 AM.

By 6 AM....she probably got up and tended to farm chores....checking the cattle....doing a fence secure walk, and by 7 AM....had a jolt of serious caffein.

Around 10 AM....she probably had ten minutes of free time to check on the base story.  Then back to work

The blunt truth....there's probably twenty-thousand farm folks....prepared for action....around the clock, and what keeps terrorists out-of-action.

Saving Energy Chatter

One odd development in Germany over the past 20 years....if you frequent outdoor restaurants in the fall/spring.....some folks have invested money in gas patio heaters (called Heizpilze).  They generally run off natural gas or oil.  

From my prospective....if you sit within 2 meters (6 feet)....you get a 'jolt' of heat (say around 10 F added to the temp).   So siting and having dinner, or have a beer....isn't some cold affair.  

Well...the EU in the past month or two....has proposed a BAN on the patio heaters....saying it's a waste of energy.  I won't argue much about the waste idea....but if you were a pub, or restaurant....if the ban occurs, you can probably zero-out about 20-percent of your fall/spring profit margin.

The only suggested 'cut'?  Well....NO.  There's talk of a nighttime public street lamp 'cut'.  

This being a suggestive idea?  That's also part of the story.  They'd prefer not to force this upon every state....that states would adapt the two ideas. 

German acceptance?  I'd give it less than a 5-percent chance of either idea being 'forced'.

28 Sep 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

 1.  Observations over Fairford UK terror-attempt.  The base had already gone to threatcon Charlie six days prior....knowing 'something' was going to occur.  The five terror 'lads'?  I don't think they were 'bright' enough to grasp the increased security and that details were out in the open. 

What will make this rough for the UK?  If details come out that the five 'lads' had arrived by refugee-status in the past six months....people will start ask pretty serious questions.

Fake business notes on the three vans?  Someone went to a lot of trouble.  This was not a normal half-ass terror action....some thought process was in place. 

2.  ARD public forum show (Sunday night)....the Caren Miosga Show...oddly enough....gave time to former Green Party bigwig Habeck....for a talk.

3.  Some talk within the US (Trump-team)....if AfD gets banned....the guilty parties involved...would be banned from entering the US.  Might be BS....might be partially true.  It'll disturb some Germans.

4.  Some belief in Berlin (city) that the Linke Party (winner of the election) will trigger a change....getting rid of knife-free zones within the city.  Lot of cities now have this policy....allowing police for evening hours to approach and demand a ID check/frisk (you have to comply).  

5.  Odd weather for the approaching week....temp's up to 27 C (81 F).

6.  Increasing number of Poles believe some 'attack' by Russian on Polish soil is possible.  

27 Sep 2027: Germany: 6 stories

 1.  Some folks are making observations about the Berlin-City election....that the city is set to have lefty-management (led by the Linke Party)....for 5 years.  If you analyze the voting....the eastern side (old DDR led)....got the big chunk of votes for the Linke Party....while the old western part of the city (FRG led) delivered votes for CDU and AfD.  As much as folks say the city unified in the 1990s...it's obvious that it's still highly divided.

2.  New poll done:

- AfD: 29-percent

- CDU-CSU: 19-percent (down 1)

- Greens: 15-percent

- SPD: 14-percent

- Linke: 10-percent

- FDP: 4-percent

Majority of Germans vote 'righty' over 'lefty'.  If you took purely CDU and SPD....they attract only one-third of public voting.

3.  British public hyped-up....some belief of a Russian invasion.  This week....PM discussed a national database of citizens listed, and their talents/skills....so in the even of a war....gov't could call upon the public.

Based on commentary on social media....I'd say a minimum of 60-percent of folks are not buying into the need for this, and might refuse to participate. 

On the German belief of Putin-invasion chatter....I'd say around 5-percent believe in some military action being possible  

4.  Last night....wife and I completed the Babylon Berlin 5th season series.  I'll just say that season 1/2 were five-star and if you can view it....worth watching.  4th and 5th seasons....less interesting.  Series takes you from 1919 to 1933.

5.  Some brawl in Koln last night....ten folks fighting....one guy got shot in the leg.  Cops still investigating.

6.  Focus ran a report on propaganda in Russian schools having started up recently....telling kids they need to die for the country.

Protest From Friday

 I sat and watched a ZDF (German public TV, Channel 2) news piece last night and it's been on my mind.

Apparently....Friday morning....somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 German school kids (mostly from highly urbanized regions of the country) took to the streets in a protest.  News folks say a hundred cities....I have my doubts on this part of the story.

Gimmick? Against the mid-2027 conscription/draft development.  

The way that the gov't objective is laid out?  There's a goal of x-number of folks coming forward and avoiding the yearly 'lotto' (you might win---thus avoid the draft....you might lose---getting drafted).  

As of late August (2026)....they are meeting the goal (marginally).  For 2027's goal....anyone's guess. Even if they fell 1,200 under the goal....the draft would only involve 1,200 guys.  

Watching the protest video....oddly, there are a fair number of non-school 'kids' in the protest.  I'd go and suggest 10-percent were NOT 'kids' (young adult men/women in their 20s/30s).

Organized?  Well....yeah, that thought came up several times in the news piece.  I'm not saying the Russians, or even the CIA....but it's obvious that some higher level of 'management' is involved.

Die WELT (newspaper) had a poll....asking ALL Germans about approval for the draft....it's up around 58-percent....meaning 40-percent aren't supporting it.  They also did a youth poll...61-percent OPPOSE the draft/conscription deal.

National chaos approaching?  You know....the Ukraine/Russia war has changed the prospective of a lot of Germans (including school 'kids').  If Putin were 'stupid' and triggered some kind of internal chaos....I have my doubts that the youth of Germany would support a war effort.

The one funny thing?  Recruitment right now....includes both young men and ladies.  Conscription/draft?  It only starts up with young men (no ladies).  

Yearly recruitment for ladies?  It stays around 13-percent....year by year.  

26 Sep 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

 1.  What the savings are for the 1 Oct gas-price change (due to tax cut temporarily)?  For a refueling (figure 30 liters)....about 10 Euro.  The change lasts for about 3 months.

2.  Bill Gates gave a talk this week, which got hyped-up by German newspapers/networks....saying around 1-billion people may die due to AI.

A lot of BS sprinkled around this topic.  If you crunched the numbers for Germany's 84-million population....probably 10-million Germans must die, for this theory/idea to work.  No explanation on how the folks will die.

On my doom-BS-meter (1-to-10)....this ranks about a '99' (way past turbo-BS).

3.  Saxony-Anhalt....pretty clear now....AfD and BSW will have a coalition.

4.  Ankle-monitors are a new trend in Germany....mostly where you have right-wing convicted folks.  So it came up this week....the police union of Germany wants the monitors prescribed for left-wing convicted folks as well.

5  Some demonstrations yesterday....by older school kids...against the conscription idea/draft.  

6.  Starting in November....new EU 'fee' is established...2 Euro.  If you order a product (like from Amazon) and the distributor is NON-EU....for the order, you pay 2 Euro.  Whether or not China accepts this rule, or starts a counter-rule against the EU....unknown.