Just Odd: Hayden Panettiere

 Last night (Monday)...both ARD/ZDF public  TV networks gave a update/send-off to the death of Hayden Panettiere.

I sat there....a bit amazed.  

If you had gathered up a thousand Germans....there might have been five that knew some detail of her acting career, or her brief relationship to Wladimir Klitschko (Ukrainian).

Her two TV shows (Nashville, Heroes)?  Neither were that popular in Germany.

Social media hype?  That really didn't figure into this either.

It seemed like.....they were told to fill air-time, and this was 'it'.

Two Observations

 1.  Last night (Monday)....ARD/ZDF (the two public TV networks) did 2-to-3 minute updates/introductions of the Brit Cambridge professor....Jayson Arday....and his funeral.

Up to this point....they had simply not mentioned the guy or his falling-out over the thesis, or public negativity over the guy.  If you asked Germans....I would imagine fewer than 2-percent of society had some idea of who the guy was.

The fact that Brits had been hearing the story for almost four weeks?  Yeah....that was the odd part of the introduction.

So ARD and ZDF tried to be mixed/fair....over the guy, and his issues. The bulk of his fake stories?  Never mentioned.

Germans trying to connect for/against the guy?  Marginally there, and maybe ARD/ZDF are simply trying to tell a one-time story, and never engage upon this ever again.

2.  E-scooter accidents getting hyped news-wise?

Yeah.....2025's accident rate was announced....16,496 accidents were noted (meaning folks had to go off to a hospital).  

There's now talk of safety mandates possibly coming.....forcing folks to wear helmets, and maybe setting a age limit.

I sat and looked 2021 rates....near 5,535 folks going to a hospital.

If you walk around Wiesbaden now....you tend to notice a fair number of juveniles/young-adults....on E-scooters.  Maybe one person out of forty....wearing a helmet.

18 August 2026: Germany: 7 Stories

 1.  Leipzig police released a study/report.....admitting that four crime families/syndicates now exist in the city.  Oddly....the four families are Syrian (meaning they didn't exist prior to 2012, and have taken over crime operation in the past decade).

Total membership within the four?  They estimate 1,000 members.

That this was probably 'known' five years ago?  Well....yeah, that might be difficult politically....to admit this to the public.

What now?  No one really says.  I would imagine that the federal police have to step in...bring in some team for six to twelve months, and do some major take-down operations.  Now....you might ask....from the other 30-odd metro cities in Germany....do they reflect the same issue, and find that no one really wants to discuss matters.

2.  Massive drone attack on Moscow?  Well....the talk this AM...from Monday evening reports....620-odd drones were used on a Moscow attack.  

3.  There's a German promi (C-list) that is fairly well known for surgical upgrading on her body.

Well...this gal....(Gina-Lisa Lohfink) is reported to have gone off to the Dominican Republic to fix what was a butt-enhancement 'problem'....apparently had the surgical procedure for 'repair', and then later while relaxing (I assume at some hotel)...the wounds 're-opened'....causing another emergency.

For some odd reason....probably around 5-to-10 percent of Germans get into the sensationalism of this kind of stuff.

4.  Reading through German social media.....a recent hype/upswing has started....going negative about masculinity-influencers.

I paused over this.  Apparently, there is some perception (perhaps fear) that social media influencers are now active....trying to convince young German men....to be less 'soft' and more 'manly'.  This apparently worries some segment of German society.

To believe in this concept....you'd have to ask....over the past decade, was there an effort to 'soften-up' German guys?  If so....would the masculinity-influencers simply returning them to a normal state of mind?

5.  The big fear building up over the Saxony-Anhalt state election (3 weeks away)?

Well....AfD says....if they win and can run things without a coalition....they will cut/dissolve public TV (meaning regional MDR will go away).

Oddly, there is a massive amount of coverage over the election by MDR (more than usual), and you get the impression that management is pulling every gimmick possible to ensure less votes for AfD.  

6.  WELT article this AM....numbers worrying German authorities.  Exceptionally high numbers of 20-to-24 year old Germans....having zero job-training, no certifications, and currently unemployed (meaning they collect social welfare money).

7.  There is a growing belief that if Saxony-Anhalt's state election goes to AfD...with a 45-percent win (most polls show them presently at 43-percent)....they will not have to form a coalition, and will lead the gov't alone.

This group....with this belief.....say that once this occurs....Chancellor Merz (CDU) is probably finished and would resign within 90 days.  

I'm not really in this stage of belief....almost all polls show a margin that a 'absolute-win' is not possible, and that the 2nd-place CDU would form a gov't with the SPD, Linke and Greens.  BUT...I would agree...a AfD win and enough to avoid coalition talks....puts Merz in a fairly weakened position.  

Who would replace him from the party?  No one really says.   

Heat Regulating Constitutional Change?

This AM....I sat and read a brief story via ARD (Channel 1, public TV).  The SPD Party (left-of-center) is writing up a draft plan....which relates to a constitutional amendment they are proposing....over heat-waves.

You will apparently have 'rights'....it's just unclear how the wording will be and how drastic this might go.

The term 'combat heat'....is mentioned in the news item....but lays out no real 'fix'.

The chaos in this?  Well.....you just don't know.

I'm guessing work is halted at some temp (probably 34C - 93F).  That might include school, funerals, hospital operations, regular work, farming, etc.

Compensation?  Who will pay?

A top three thing for election-BS?  I could imagine at least twenty-odd things more important. AfD countering this?  Unknown.  

Twelve Odd Political Trends You See Developing In Germany

 1.  There is some trend where hyped-up issues that ONLY affect metro-cities (and their voters)....have zero affect or hyped-up nature for mid-sized towns or villages.  This sets some parties apart.....where they can't sell their brand, or hype.  Some villages would be super-happy....if they just had a single bus route/schedule....stopping/leaving....a dozen times a day.....going 'somewhere'.  The same village will tell you they haven't had an assault/robbery...since 1967....mentioning the guilty party by his first-name.

2.  Crime/drugs....are probably listed as a top five problem....with most cities trying to show you statistics that it hasn't gone up much in ten years.  However, if you back to West Germany/East Germany days (before 1990)....there's a serious difference.  I'm not saying things were 'better' or 'different'....just that older people note this odd trend.

3.  There is some type of fascination starting up....that the German federal government....can resolve/fix....all problems.  The same type of fascination exists for the EU as well. Germans can't really say how lawyers in gov't seem to have any talents other than arguing or debating.

4.  Job losses are starting to be noticed, and parties are trying to invent resolutions.  Whatever the German market is selling (selling for several decades)....it's now in poor shape to produce and sell at a profit today.  Matters seem locked onto this trend.

5.  China, competition, AI, Trump, AfD, money-laundering, Putin's Russia, and capitalism....are all pretty much 'enemies-of-the-state' now.  The 8 PM ARD nightly news will usually have at least one 'enemies-of-the-state' element.  

6.  Pretty much the majority of Germans now agree....things are too much regulated.  Yet....stopping the regulations or dissolving them....is nearly impossible.

7.  Germans seem fixated that any time you have a knifing incident or car-assault-attack....the guilty party will confess to hearing voices, be radicalized, be male, or be victims of long-term paranoid schizophrenia.  For the slightly-to-the-left or slighty-to-the-right....it's impossible to not see this identification or to avoid asking stupid questions.

8.  German public TV is not widely accepted as the 'simple-truth' anymore.  Probably half of society asks questions and sees some element of propaganda existing.

9.  The free-stuff social 'sales'.....probably peaked out ten to fifteen years ago in Germany.  Socialism has a cost element....you can only go so far with 'freeness'.

10.  If Putin were able to stage an invasion on Germany....based on polling....somewhere around 30 to 50 percent of 18-to-25 year old German males would agree to military service.  The rest would refuse to enlist/fight.  (Putin is probably is sitting there and kicking himself....could have just as easily invaded Germany instead of Ukraine, and wrapped up the job in 100 days)

11.  It seems likely within a decade....about one-third of all Germans (living) won't be able to read, write, speak....at a rate beyond the 5th grade.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing...just that it's hard to imagine the better Germans accepting the lesser Germans at the same 'level'.  

12. It seems obvious....within a decade....the German gov't will have to invent some dimwit-job profession because of AI consuming half the job market, and the bulk of youth potential are geared to 5th-grade level (at age 18-to-25).  Where these jobs will come from?  Unknown.

The Wiesbaden-Mainz/Mainz-Wiesbaden 'Metropolis'

 If you combine the population of the two cities (next to each other), plus the forty outlying adjacent tows within the umbrella....the population gets up to around 1.5-million.  Oddly enough....there are just three bridges to cover the area (for car traffic) and two rail bridges.

My wife's grumbling?  It used to be a single complaint per month....say up to around six years ago....as she went from our village (Wiesbaden-side) to the Mainz side where the job is located.  There's probably five grumblings per day now.  On stress and 'rage'....it adds up.

Renovation now a massive problem?  Between the three bridges, the autobahns and city-traffic issues....there's probably twenty-odd renovation issues brewing.

Locally, there's hardly a week that passes within the metro area of Wiesbaden....where another pipe has 'blown' and a twenty-guy crew is called upon for emergency work.....consuming four to six weeks of traffic issues.

Both city governments hyped-up on traffic movement?  If you did engage with people....movement is now a top five issue, and no one can really spell out how to fix this....other than suggesting you bike to work, or use the tram/bus/railway.

A breaking point?  Oddly, both cities are building onto living structures.....so you can plot trends.  Mainz today?  Near 226,000....probably reaching 240,000 by 2035.  Wiesbaden?  300,135 back in March....likely to hit 315,000 by 2035.

If you were stationed around WI or MZ in the 1980s.....you probably would be shocked at the amount of traffic flow, and hassle in 2026.

This Volksbad 'Scandal' In Berlin?

 Well....it's a funny story.

Heat has been a major topic in Berlin (the city) for 2026....number of days of 30 C or more.  At some point....some commercial business-front had this idea of a temp-pool design.  You'd build up a above-pool situation....normal pool size....maybe 1.5 meters deep (5 ft).  You'd rent-out the deal....have a team (probably 6 guys) to assemble it....fill it up with water....run it as a cooling-off 'thrill' for some neighborhood. 

Cost factor?  Never openly discussed.  I would guess that it's around 60,000 Euro for a 6-week rental/assembly.  Who pays the water bill?  Unknown (I might guess that comes back to the city council).

To be re-used over and over?  Yeah...that's the business-side plus-up.  

So....this idea went forward and the cost was covered by a NGO (non-gov't organization).  It's some group who was given the funds, and agreed-upon for site use.  Maybe the NGO 'rented' the site as part of the deal....with the gov't getting funds 'back'.

The first Volksbad?  Assembled and used without a bad word.  Even ARD (public TV) did a segment and suggested it was a brilliant idea for summer use.

Then came a NGO in Berlin, who wanted a Volksbad concept....in a neighborhood....that has a fair black/African population, and the pool was to be set-up/used....ONLY for blacks (no German whites).  The NGO has some connection back to the black population of Berlin.

This got a lot of negative coverage....mostly from social media (not ARD).

How many blacks exist in Berlin?  It's not officially counted....but AI suggests the number of 53,000.

What makes them different from regular-white Germans of Berlin?  Well....nothing much.  If  you asked about swimming capabilities of two groups....I'd probably guess that 95-percent of Germans can swim....with the black population closer to one-quarter of the 53k being able to swim.  This idea of the separate pool....maybe giving the one social group a lesser embarrassment?  I'm of the mind that this is how the idea got created and funded. 

How the 95-percent of German society can swim?  Around age 10 to 12...schools mandate swimming classes (it's awful hard to get out of this requirement).  Newer residents/guests of Germany....never getting the mandated class in swimming?  Yeah.....if you arrived at age 18 to 25...you probably never learned to swim in your youth.

A real scandal?  No.

The minute that the council folks said it was a blacks-only event/use....it was to be a political mess to clean up.  

Political Side of the Forest Fire Story

 For the past 10 days....there's been a couple of fires to erupt (much less than what Spain and France has seen for the past 60 days).  

There is public 'anger' building up over the limited action in curtailing or limiting the damage of the fires.  It's not a national topic....strictly regional.  

Oddly, the Green Party has picked up the agenda, and slammed the Merz coalition (CDU-CSU-SPD) for not having concrete answers to fire 'protection'/prevention.

What is being pushed?  Well....using drones to detect or plan the route of fires is one thing mentioned.  Other idea pursued....forcing the federal gov't to hand state and city gov't authorities more money.  

On the money idea....there's no guarantee that the states would pursue a decent plan, or use the money for less-bang-for-the-buck.

All of this going back to the drought issue?  More or less. 2026 has been an exceptionally dry year...more so in my valley.....than any point in the past 20 years.