Train Story

 You board a train, or bus....in Germany...without a ticket.   When the conductor/audit-guy comes around....he'll assess the situation, and normally (like  99-percent of the time)....he'll ask you for your 'pass' (ID) and write up a legal document....with a 60-Euro fine.

Typically, you pay the fine on the spot....if not, then there's a summons to pay the fine in some city court situation.   Then this document is entered for your first 'warning'.

If you were stupid and went onto a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th event....that's when the collection mounts, and you start to get a judge involved.  Roughly, on average....this  occurs around 7,000 to 9,000 occasions a year in Germany.  This is where a jail sentence is talked about (up to 1-year).

So....I noted yesterday....the Attorney-General of Germany (SPD member)....wants to decriminalize this stuff.....no court action....no jail.

How the repeat offenders will be handled?  Unknown.

Lot of facts missing?  Yeah.

I looked it  up.....German states (16 of them) cover the cost of this court action....adds up to around 250 million Euro a year roughly. Fair amount of man-hours involved.

I also noted.....out of Frankfurt....they've almost given up the court action....simply telling the repeat offenders to pay 60 Euro on each occasion.

A lot of the repeat offenders being non-German? This is suggested via social media, but no real facts to support the idea.

I've been on trains and buses where an audit occurred, and the guy/gal didn't have a ticket.  I'd say that in 50-percent  of the cases.....they were non-German. I also noted that in 95-percent of cases....it's a male-thing (women rarely ride 'free'). 

California

"California was like a hot blonde who never had to try, everyone showed up, the drinks kept coming, life was easy. But eventually, the blonde turns 45, the dates stop coming… and the ride is over."

-- Adam Carolla: 

Back in the early 1980s....I spent 2 weeks driving around the state...admitting it was the most perfect place I'd ever 'toured'.  I saw it all...Hearst Castle, SF, LA, Burbank, California Redwoods, Death Valley, etc.

Today?  Even if you offered me a $150k a year salary-job.....I'd refuse the offer.  It's like you had 9-year-old kids running the gov't.....determined to destroy it.

If The US Exits NATO.....Would I Worry Over Russia Invading?

 NO.

Thanks to this Ukraine adventure....Putin has diminished his military by 99-percent....they aren't a threat to  anyone much now.

Now....if the war ends (God knows when)....and the idiot-Germans start buying oil/natural gas from the Russians.....to rearm and rebuild their military, then  I'd say in about 20-to-25 years....they'd have the force (but not the manpower) to be a reasonable threat.

The manpower 'thing'?  Killing off around half the whole male population between age 20 and 30....pretty much guarantees a marginal threat....for probably four decades or more.

But Germans are unlikely to buy into the marginal Russia threat, and will be stupid enough to buy natural gas....thus helping them to rearm.

It's an amazing story.....Europe really doesn't need the US military.  

ARD Propaganda News Story

 I sat last night and watched the 8 PM Channel One/ARD news......with a lead-off story from Iran.

It was a 100-percent propaganda piece....wonderful Iranian school teacher....living alone  in a ultra modern Tehran apartment....no head scarf while walking outside....walking her dog.

I paused at the end....thinking....what exactly did I just watch?  Best answer.....Iran propaganda to convince dimwit-Germans that they are almost like folks in Tehran.  

And ARD unable to grasp the design of the propaganda?  That was the funny thing.  You'd suspect at least five 'bosses' or prime-journalists being in the approval process.  At least one of them should have stood up and said 'pure-propaganda'.

This AM....there must have forty folks who identified the piece and laid out heavy criticism over public-TV propaganda.

If you went to view Sunday night's news program...it's not there.  The 10:30 piece is there instead.

A Little Story

  Over the extended weekend (4 days)....in Stuttgart, Germany....two guys were in a easter egg hunt in a wooded area with a group.

So....they look around, and find....glass container that has a label....saying “Polonium-210” (noted radiological weapon).

They call the  cops.

Authorities are reviewing the container.

This was the substance known for the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and FSB officer turned whistleblower, who died after ingesting tea laced with the radioactive material in a London hotel.

Faked-up?  Maybe.

If it were real?  Well....you'd start to ask if some German deaths were a bit unusual.

The Supposed 'Deal'?

 UK independent MP Andrew Bridgen says....with limited facts....Iran struck some type of secret oil deal with France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Spain, which lead to those nation closing airspace to US military operations in exchange for safe tanker passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Proof?  None...so far.

I asked Grok (AI) to find facts....there just weren't any to present.

Evidence that some tankers got out without a threat?  Some tankers have left the Gulf region....but trying to say they belonged to some country.....well, there's no evidence.

If some deal were proven?  It'd present a major NATO problem, and be the beginning of the end.

Most of the EU on shaky oil reserves?   Yeah, there is this fact.

So  I'm giving the story on my BS-index (1-to-10)...a '8' at this point....nothing much true. Course....facts would change my ranking.

Just Odd

 I've talked/essayed over the ICE-train episode from Friday....where some guy had some 'attack' planned.....lit some fire-works, and wounded in some  fashion around a dozen passengers.

Police arrested the guy, and did a search of his apartment....finding a Koran and copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Typically....in 99-percent of cases....where you've held the guy more than 24 hours and likely to charge them....you make a public statement on 'John-A' (using this first  name and initial format).

Well....German police want to continue withholding the name of the 20-year-old right-wing radical attacker on the ICE.  

Social media hype?  Most Germans are saying it's a Middle Eastern name....so the police and authorities want to avoid this type of hype.

I thought about this, and it's odd timing....doing some terror act on a 4-day weekend....with a lot of 'bosses' on leave/holiday.  My bet?  Come Tuesday AM....some police 'boss' has returned from his trip and signs off on identifying the guy.

Naturally, if you asked me on the odds of some guy having both a copy of the Koran and Mein Kampf.....maybe it could be a regular German guy who is a bit confused and mentally impaired.....who happens to have some knives.

5 Apr 2026: Germany: 4 Things

 1.  Picked up the story from yesterday.....age 17 to 45 men in Germany....if you are leaving for 90-plus days....you need 'permission' to be out of the country.

So I asked Grok (AI) to note number of German affected.  15-million.

How many German guys are affected out of this....going to  university outside of the country....or working, playing pro-soccer, or just goofing off outside of Germany?  No rational number, but I take a guess at 100,000 in a average year who are fitting in a plus-90 day situation.

If the gov't did mandate a draft....then the problem comes up....based on polls....somewhere between 40 and  55 percent of young guys just would not participate.

2.  Reviewed latest poll....if a fed-election were forced....combined, the CDU-CSU-SPD coalition would ONLY total 38-percent.....not enough to win. Even with a four-partner situation....with the Greens....this might only get near 49 percent.

3.   Impending jet-fuel crisis....creating a massive wave of summer vacations  cancelled?  

Well...there's talk of this.  I'd say at the end of April....you'd have a better view of this.  If there were 30-to-40 percent of summer  flights curtailed....there would be a massive causality of economic woes to occur.  

4.  Fuel discount via tax-relief?  The German Economics Minister says 'NO'.

End of April....if E-10 fuel reaches 2.30 or more....Chancellor will be under enormous pressure for some type of tax-cut on fuels....my humble belief.