12 Sep 2024: Six German News Stories

 1.  The Carolabrucke....the bridge leading to the 'old-town' area of Dresden over the river....partially collapsed.  Built in 1967....the fire department is reviewing what remains....saying they expect the entire bridge is probably finished.  One interesting detail....no vehicles were lost, and no injuries reported.

It's one of four bridges in the city, and yes....it is a big deal on the non-use.  Last big audit/inspection of the bridge?  Three years ago.  

A continuing footnote on renovations of bridges and why so many are being reviewed for safety reasons.

Footnote: after this collapse....just a awful lot of chatter via TV news and discussion groups...in that dozens of major bridges in Germany are in a condition requiring replacement.

2.  1.8 meters of snow forecasted by this weekend in the Austrian Alps and encroaching upon Germany.  Maybe a month ahead of normal snowfall.  Last year? Well....it was one of the early snowfall years for central Germany, and around my valley....probably one-third of a meter over a week.  

Added to the snowfall....if you head into Czech and the region south....massive amount of rain expected over next four days....lot of flooding to occur.

3.  Interesting WELT article from Wed.....talking to the topic of media 'Antifa' situations.  German public has come to notice off public TV chat forums....moderators are gearing up a crew when AfD Party politicians appear on the show....to oppose them in strong ways.

I won't disagree with the tactic.  The moderators probably believe they are on some moral high-ground, and there's nothing wrong with 'hitting' AfD.  The problem I see....as people watch this, it wouldn't take much to say public TV has a problem, and enhance the idea of gutting the TV tax.

4.  Curious story over Koln's 'Pascha' brothel (largest brothel in Europe).  For those not familiar with it....it is a pink-colored building designed as a hotel, but serving as a legit and licensed German brothel.

So, there's been this investigation going on.  Oddly, the owners 'sold' residence permits to well-to-do Chinese folks.

Brothel temporarily owned by the gov't?  Well....yeah.  The rest of this story?  It goes off to suggest that the well-to-do folks are people-smugglers in some way, and I'm just guessing here....but female Chinese folks are being part of this story.

5.  There was a open-talk in the Bundestag yesterday.  Things got highly critical of the Chancellor (Scholz).  When he finally got up and did defensive talk....he got highly animated (more so than usual, lot of arm waving).

6.   Across all of Germany today (Thursday)....it's supposed to be a test of the national warning system (not just sirens, but includes cellphones as well).

11 Sep 2024: Fourteen German News Stories

 1. Germany has said if you are a migrant trying to enter German from the border states....they can refuse you and send you back to the border state.

Well....yesterday, Austria announced that it will NOT accept a migrant sent back across the border.

Just a humble feeling....by the end of 2024....I suspect six European countries will have a massive border control going on, and likely extending through all of 2025.  

The EU needing to resolve this? Yeah, but how?  I'll predict for the 2025 fall election in Germany....both the CDU and SPD have to promise the public of a massive border control-force (probably in the range of 12,000 personnel to be created by 2027).  Funny how we revolve back to tight borders like it was in 1984.  

I should add...with border security bumped-up (even on the Austrian border)....it's possible the German police would encounter some refugee....determine their status on the spot, and deny them entry....meaning they get turned around and sent back into Austria.  If the Austrians are there to grasp the moment, the refugee would re-enter Austria (without paperwork or status).  When he approaches the Austrians and requests migration papers....they will ask questions, and this will be interesting to see how they allow him to stay.

2.  Chancellor Scholz talks of major effort to bring peace-talks up between the Ukraine and Russia.

I think Scholz wants to get this off the ground before January, and the possibility that Trump is President again, and staging his own peace-talks.

3.  German doctors  want to push an agenda....if you miss an appointment...out of your own pocket (not health insurance)....you need to pay a 'fee'.  How much?  Left out of the talk so far....but I would assume something in the range of 50 Euro.

4.  SWR (public TV for the Pfalz) did a news item....suggesting a Trump 'win' will mean the end of Spangdahlem and Ramstein Air Bases.

BS?  

I'll just say that the war in the Ukraine has proven a number of things....one of which....is that Russia isn't capable of invading Europe  (especially after all the loses they've encountered).

Add to this....there is a debt problem brewing for the US, and budget gutting is a absolute must.

Finally, a lot of people will suggest that in the 1990s....NATO should have evolved, and the US should have picked the time to lessen  its presence.  Because of the Balkans War....that never happened.

So yeah, I also speculate that a Trump-win means the exit-door is opened.

5.  This week, my village (4k residents) is having a town-hall meeting, and one topic to be discussed.....having the entire village set to a 30 kph (19 mph) speed limit.

Presently....about 90-percent of the town is set to 50 kph (31 mph).  

A big deal?  There are four entry-exit points to the village.  I don't think it'll be a big deal...other than the idea....probably a year away....to having a blitz-camera to create speeding tickets  (my belief).

The village over the hill from mine....has around five blitz-cameras.  

6.   At some point on Tuesday morning in Ingolstadt (Bavaria)....two guys (25/22) are at some bus stop and get into a argument.

Both board a bus, and one guy stabs the other (seriously injured).

Cops have arrested the knife guy.  Depending on the number of charges....he could be looking at five years in prison (my guess).

7.  I skipped watching Monday night's 'Hart Aber Fair' political chat-forum show.  Looking over reports....it was an interesting discussion.  It was mostly about migration in Germany, knife-attacks, and the general perception among Germans.

So the Interior Minister of NRW was there, and made some analysis....in simple terms, he notes....'you aren't allowed to name problems, because the minute you do, people want to stigmatize you'.

I don't disagree with his observation....this is an odd development in the past decade, and one of the reasons why almost one-third of the country is seriously anti-migrant.  If you think the other two-thirds are pro-migrant....you'd be wrong.  I'd say it's near 50-percent of Germans who'd accept migration, but they want rules, processes, and limits.  

At 8:15 PM on Monday night (prior to 'Hart Aber Fair'....what ARD (public TV, channel 1) did run....was a 45-min documentary piece called "Future in East Germany."

I watched the bulk of the documentary piece.  My description?  ARD sent a team to talk to people in Eastern Germany, and laid out their negative views of migrants.  The selling point of the documentary?  To convince the non-eastern Germans that these poor people in the east....just don't get it (they aren't like us).  Skepticism?  This is the key part of the overall story, which I think the journalists  missed.  It's just a lot of skepticism building up within the working-class community, and some journalists telling you a story....doesn't mean you buy any part of it.

8.  Chatter yesterday....health insurance for Germans will likely climb in the 20-percent range for 2025.

9.  The coalition gov't (SPD-Greens-FDP) gave a news conference after their meeting on the migration 'problem' yesterday.

Basic description....nothing happened of any consequence.  

The funny side of this developing mess...is that migration woes have now moved up to a top-three problem, and we are within a year of the federal election.  As long as they just 'stall'....it's just adding 'points' to the CDU-CSU voter-base.  I feel confident that they know the consequence.

10.  VW came out yesterday and said 'job-security' is gone.  Within 2025....a number of positions will be eliminated.  

11.  Heino (the popular German singer) came out and said something to the effect....'Germany needs a political figure like Trump'....then referenced it to the safety factor....saying 'it can't possibly be that in Germany, people are fearful of going out on the streets'.

While he'll be stigmatized for the Trump reference....the truth is that there is no such politician existing in Germany....so you don't need to fear for the arrival of a German-Trump.

But his other reference....the fear factor?  I don't think it exists in small towns or villages.  But when you come to cities of 100,000 or more....probably a good thirty-percent or more of the population....pay attention now to the surroundings and are more vigilant than five years ago.  The knifings and personal assaults/robberies....add up.

The only thing that the politicians can do?  Add more police....stage more patrols....frisk people at random....talk about more deportations while being unable to accomplish them.  Vicious circle.

12. WELT analysis article, published today....worth a read if you can find the paper.  Topic?  The dismantling of the German nuclear power capability is a mess.  By their numbers, shutting them down worsened the C02 balance even more, and the true money-cost is around 600 billion Euro.  

13. Draft of the 2025 German federal budget published yesterday.....3,000 pages long. 

14.  BMW gave a warning yesterday....profitability is now a problem for stock-holders.  

In Terms Of Immigration, Why Is The Better 'Deal' In Germany?

 Back around eight years ago....I watched some German public forum show (I'll admit....maybe 60 percent of the time...they do present a good discussion and sometimes a audience member asks a 1,000 Euro question).

In this forum...migration and immigration was the key topic, and someone stood to ask...why is it that migrants usually ONLY want to migrate toward the UK or Germany?  

It was a legit question I thought, and no one could give much of an answer....so they just moved on.

What people have quietly said since then....both the UK and Germany offer better 'allowances', benefits, and more likely to accept migrants.

The fact that the EU has never established a 'standard'?  Well....yeah, I've often wondered about that.  

The essential problem here?  Well....in the mind of a typical Greek or Portuguese political figure....they are not about to offer a German 'standard' for a migration situation.  The German political figure?  He's not about to accept a low-ball Greek figure for the migrant.  

It's the same essential argument when you talk over qualifications....where the Poles or Spanish folks would readily accept people with nursing backgrounds or engineering degrees....but they really don't want to bring in 15,000 folks who only have a background in running a fruit-carts (in the old country).

The EU folks trying to re-balance this discussion?  Good luck on that.

10 Sep 2024: Eight German News Stories

 1.  Interesting WELT article from Monday....worth reading if you can find the paper.  Kurd who immigrated into Germany back in 2015....now a successful lifeguard in Germany....interviewed.  He says from work-experience (from the pool business)....a fair number of migrants arrive and want to impose the old country rules upon Germans.

2.  AfD Party in Thuringia....asked two parties to coalition talks (CDU and BSW).  Both refused to participate.

Zero chance of a AfD coalition gov't, but you have 30 days typically to attempt to form one.

3.  Push to bring minimum wage in Germany to 15 Euro an hour.

4.  BSW Party stirred the migration-issue 'pot' yesterday.  New idea.

So in their plan.....as the migrant enters Germany and asks for paperwork to start their application....the police would ask.....how did you arrive?  Answer...via France, Poland, Austria, etc?  These are safe  countries....you need to return there and apply in those  countries.

Only way you could pass via this strategy?   You'd have to fly in (remember airlines check for passports/visas) or boat in (from the Atlantic or Baltic). 

Odds of passing?  I think right off the bat....the CDU/CSU would support the idea. 

5.  Asylum center planned in Rott am Inn (hour's drive SE of Munich)....in village of 4,000 residents.....had a protest situation start up.  Majority of town has said 'no' to the center.  I looked at the size planned out for this 'center'.....would have taken 500 guests....so it is a sizeable place on the plan.

6.  Some talk going on in the grocery chains....lack of skilled deli-department people.  Actual suggestion going on.....that they would temporarily bring in non-Germans to do the work.  

7.  Weather folks talking about a huge 'wet' front coming through on Thursday....expect flooding.

8.  By order of the Interior Minister....for next six months....'control' will be established at the border.  Massive amount of police effort.  They've already warned the Ministry that this can't run indefinitely, without a manpower 'fix'.  

9 Sep 2024: Ten German News Stories

 1.  Concerning that machete-Albanian guy who walked into a Koblenz area police station at 2:30 AM Saturday and threatened to kill police....being apprehended and charged-up.

When you walk into a German police station (I've walked into a couple)....there's the outer door which is controlled, so you usually have to buzz your way past it.  Then you enter into a customer-room, with a security glass area where the cops are sitting.  If they invite you past the customer-room....you have to get 'buzzed' to enter their area. 

So, this nut-case who made the threat....got locked right there in the customer area.  Once they got the taser out, and had a couple of police in the parking lot.....this guy was 'toast'.  

On police-threat charges?  I would imagine he's looking at enough to get a full-year in jail.

2.  I sat and watched a N-TV news piece yesterday....on the 'recovery' of ISIS in Germany.  They give various reasons for this, but the bottom line?  The experts told N-TV.....there's likely to be wave after wave of terror acts coming over the next year.

3.  Business report out there indicating a 2025 expansion plan of McDonalds in Germany....indicating several hundred new buildings to be established, and possibly up to 10,000 new employees.

I gazed over the story....mostly in disbelief.  Their focus seems to be getting more drive-in points established....where folks picked up food on their way to work, or on their way home.  

4.  Lot of political talk over the weekend about VW financial problems.  Some suggestion now that the EU should get involved and offer help in terms of Euro.

5.  Political chatter over the weekend by Chancellor Scholz.  He seems to believe that the SPD will confirm him as a candidate in the fall 2025 fed-election here in Germany, and that the public will get him the votes.

I give it....zero percent chance of the party re-confirming him.  

6.  Lindner, the Finance Minister (FDP)....gave a talk this weekend.  Two protest ladies stopped the talk....disrobing and going topless for their 'speech'. 

7.   CDU came out over the weekend with a plan to 'control' p0rn.  They want to create a p0rn-pass.  You would have to have a pass to enter any digital p0rn site.  In getting the pass, you'd have to establish your age.  

This working?  Well....VPNs would defeat the idea.  I would imagine teenagers would figure the way around this.  Then the 16-year old crowd would demand adult-status.....which I doubt that the CDU wants to give them.

Magazine and video p0rn to still exist?  Yeah.

I'm not sure this is a priority but the typical conservative voter will probably list it as a top-100 issue.  

8.  From WELT, Harold Martenstein wrote an interesting political piece for Sunday, if you can find a copy....worth reading.  Topic?  He points out three odd factors...the German CDU Party (right-of-center) ought to win the next election.....they will likely be forced to partner in some way with the BSW Party.....and that the BSW Party is in some ways similar to the AfD Party (far-right). 

Yeah, naturally, the CDU gov't (anticipating this)....would be handcuffed in a way to left-wing agendas.....something that Merkel vowed a dozen years ago...would not happen with the party.

I'll just say this....as the CDU does partner-up with BSW....I see a fair  number of German conservative voters being disgruntled after a year or two, and likely exiting the door to a more right-wing type party.  Come the 2029 fed-election...it's possible that the AfD Party picks up 3-to-4 points over their 2025 results...over this disgruntled crowd.

9. Interesting N-TV news piece this AM.....over 140 German villages (of size)....don't have a post office.  Reason?   These are usually 'contracted-out' to tobacco shops, lotto shops, or corner grocery shops.  Well....in these 140 villages....no commercial operation has applied for the contract (either they don't want the trouble, or it doesn't pay enough for the hassle).

In my village, for over 20 years, it's been run by the stationary/school supply shop/lotto shop.  

10.  ZDF (public TV, Channel 2) is based out of the Mainz area.  Yesterday....they were attempt to run a live music show ('Fernsehgarten').  Massive storm came up at the last minute, and the crowd was dismissed (it is typically a outdoor operation).  They found some empty studio, and ran the show from there.

8 Sep 2024: Six German News Stories

 1.  Another stabbing, Karlsruhe train-station....Friday evening.  Standing on one of the platforms....32-year old guy got stabbed.  Culprit made it away.

2.  Up in the state of NRW (NW Germany).....a company was given the contract to shut-down a nuke plant (billions paid to them).  Well....company went bankrupt.  Dissolved now.

Gov't says they will have to step in and re-fund the shut-down themselves....at least a couple billion would have to be generated out of thin-air.

3.  This odd partnership between BMW and Toyota.....to build hydrogen-powered cars?  Well....it came out this past week, and might have serious implications, but it's a decade away.

Meanwhile,  I'll just say when the topic comes up with middle-class/working-class Germans, there's minimum enthusiasm for E-cars.  I'd say presently.....ONLY around one out of five Germans seem willing to go the E-car route.

Harsh reality of hydrogen cars?  Well.....in my circle of 20 miles around Wiesbaden....I know of ONLY ONE single fueling station (was made for hydrogen-buses originally).  

Even if you came up with a 40k Euro hydrogen vehicle....it'd take 15 years minimum to get stations set up and geared to fuel-up H-cars.  Course, the selling point is that you'd probably only require seven minutes to fuel up a H-car.  

4.  Hessen (the state) is saying now....a thinking process to help save VW is going on....to save jobs.  Wouldn't shock me if the state found half-a-billion to funnel into some zero-percent loan deal.

5.  Odd brawl....2:30 AM Saturday morning....two 'gangs' met up in the area of a Breitenbach am Herzberg (Hersfeld-Rotenburg) 'fair' (here in Hessen).

At least six folks arrested....one guy sent to a hospital. 

Yes, knives were involved.  Police still investigating.

6.  For a couple of hours Saturday...railway traffic was halted in central Germany....radio disruption was blamed.

German Fashion Trend

 In the past two weeks....Hessen state summer vacation....for schools....ended.  The kids are back in school.

So as kids come back in....you start to notice two obvious German youth fashion trends that have developed over the summer.

Back around 12 years ago....Goth existed in teen fashion.  Even in the city of Wiesbaden....we had one attire shop which specialized (at the time) in Goth.  Then it mostly up and disappeared over one single year.  

Well....walking around in the past two weeks....it seems like Goth is now making a comeback.  I've probably noticed forty German juveniles in the city of Wiesbaden dressed up in Goth.

The second trend?  Japanese Anime-style.  The blue hair, the green hair, and the dress/attire....set to what you'd notice in Tokyo.  Just yesterday, I probably counted at least twenty kids dressed in the style.

Two odd trends?  Well....fashion among teens has to constantly evolve (it can remain the same).  It's just odd how the green/blue hair thing comes into style.

7 Sep 2024: Three German News Stories

 1.  Grocery operation Edeka...says it will lessen the deli-meat-counter personnel in their operations...mostly over two reasons: meat consumption overall is lessening, and skilled labor shortage.  

My local Edeka (at least in mid-afternoon shifts) still has four people on the deli counter.  But they also handle the cheese counter as well.

2.  Linke Party observing the VW car mess...says that stock-holders should prepare to pay back dividends....to cover the cost instead of a austerity program for VW.  

If this were to be the plan....VW stock would drop like a rock.

3.  If you were a drinker of the German discount soda 'River-Cola'....you might want to stock up while you can.  The operation is going to halt production....not enough profit.  The only place you could ever buy it....was the Aldi grocery chain.