Smokers were expecting the CDU-CSU-SPD coalition to have 'some' rise in the smokes tax. Based on talk this AM....by early 2027, a single pack of smokes will be around 12 Euro ($13.5).
If you were a pack a day smoker? Well....you'd need 360 Euro (figure close to $420)....for a month.
1978....Frankfurt....a pack of smokes ran for 2.40 DM (figure $1.20).
Locally (Wiesbaden area)....the public bus folks....came up and lectured everyone. While they have AC....basically the cooling effect is 5 degrees less.
So if the outdoor temp is 37 C (99 F)....the bus can only cool to 32 C (90 F).
In this type of scenario....I'd advise you....either travel early mornings, or limit your trip to 15 minutes (getting off and cooling a bit).
Trains? They might be slightly better but I doubt that you have more than 7 degrees C cooler.
6 Sep is the date of the state election.
Presently....AfD is rating around 42-percent of the vote....with 12-percent of the vote likely going to smaller parties without a chance to get seats in the state assembly.
So I crunched the math...asking AI for help.
There will be five likely parties getting 5-percent or more (AfD, SPD, Linke, BSW and CDU).
With the current numbers...83 seats in the mix....AfD will not be able to get 50-percent or more....meaning that the CDU (in 2nd place) will be told to forge a coalition with the SPD, Linke and BSW....all lefties. This would be a 50-plus situation.
However, I'll point this out....if you were a CDU-voter and were told....the 5-year coalition would be mostly a left-situation...why would you vote for the CDU?
Somewhere in the 21-percent polling for the CDU....I suspect half of the voters really can't dream of partnering into a situation like this. So part of me suggests that half of the CDU-voters might slide over and vote for the AfD...giving them a 50-plus percent win, with the 50-plus seats.
It would be a pretty radical win, and hard to explain to the general public. Nationally, it'd trigger a lot of questions
1. WELT piece this AM....wave of German hospital bankruptcies going on.
At present pace, I might suggest that a full-blown Bundestag 'emergency' will occur by early 2027.
2. Between Dusseldorf and Koln....Bahn railway sabotage noted....left-wing group claims credit.
Group noted....."Kommando Angry Birds."
The group says....."mass death caused by progress" as their motive. BS chatter if you ask me....probably a group of two nutcases.
3. 100 folks in Germany for June...drowned....mostly all males....highest rate in almost 30 years.
4. Noted on N-TV new....near one-third of German retirees....get only 900 Euro or less on monthly pension.
5. AfD....regionally (SSaxony-Anhalt)....published their 10 key points to 'push' upon winning in the state election (within 90 days):
- Cancel public broadcasting, at least for their state....which might mean no TV tax (would be court-challenged).
- More deportations (not explained HOW).
- Work requirement for asylum seekers....this gets brought up as a common theme....how they would force the issue, unknown.
- Cut funding for foundations & democracy projects.
- Driver's license subsidy for apprentices (where funding would come from, unknown)
- Special classes (not explained).
- Security guards at schools (where funding would come from....unknown).
- Only use of the German National flag....instead of rainbow flag
- Some topic called German-thinking.....replacing Modern-thinking (not explained).
- Reduce ministries (easily done, if you combined several into one).
If you ask me....several of these probably would have 60-plus percent of folks in support of. Lot revolving around extra funding.
First, France launched a national authority 'emergency'.
Basically....if you are senior citizen or homeless guy/gal....the local city authority is ordered to 'provide' you cooling comfort...meaning public buildings (that are cooled) must drag out chairs and keep you cooled throughout the afternoons.
I thought over this....here in my village....there's no public building with cooling. In Wiesbaden....there might be twenty-odd public structures with some kind of cooling. In France? Unknown.
Second story....spokesperson for the German Green Party came up and said there needs to be a national 'moment' for the Germans dead from the June heat-wave.
They aren't saying a monument or statue....just some 30-second remembrance.
What the media says for a number? 5,000 is thrown around....saying the heat killed them. I won't vouch for the number or against it....just that it's a nice round number, and that usually means bogus facts.
If I were the SPD....I'd jump on this and have a statue of some type....symbolic of the sun radiating.
This past week in Germany...changes occurred.
In the future.....the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (their version of the FBI)....will be able to recruit juveniles/minors (starting at age 16)....as informants.
I paused over reading this....it's a short piece and not really worth much discussion.
What is funny.....you go and trust/rely upon the 16/17 year old....but then you say they are lacking maturity for social media....but you trust them to be secret agents/spies.
This new spy-crew needed to spy upon right-wing elements? I would imagine so.
You can imagine the sales-pitch....be a spy for the German nation.
1. Hostage situation in Berlin?
Somewhere around 10 PM.....as the REWE grocery was to close....some nutcase took a clerk hostage. As of 7 AM....situation continues.
Odd factor? Well....this is in the Marienfelde area (near Tempelhof).....away from urbanized Berlin.
2. Mayor Wegner of Berlin (CDU guy) down-and-out?
For the upcoming election, Wegner is replaced by a new candidate for the party (Evers).
Back in January....there was the terror-attack on the city electrical grid....affecting about 10-percent of the Berlin area. For several days....power was off (in cold weather).
Wegner was 'gone' for about12 hours....with a comment that he was on a 'tennis' lesson. It was a odd explanation, and news folks suggested he was on some other 'business'.
I live about 25 minutes away from Idstein, Germany. There are three things which the town is known for. The first....I'll skip for another day. The second, the witch trials between February 1676 and March 1677 (where 43 folks were executed for demon stuff), and finally....the traffic circles (roughly 35 of them). Two of the topics...I'll blog another day.
The witch business? By the end, they had executed 35 women and 8 guys.
What triggered the witch business?
Most folks agree that religious zeal with fear of heresy started it. There were ongoing tension between the Catholics and Protestants....each needing angle to get public support, and paranoia/demonic influences help to get things going.
I should add...witchcraft was seen as as a direct threat to Christian order. Folks had started to engineer sermons and religious texts....talking up the agents of Satan (the witches).
Crop failures, famines, and the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)? Over the years....they added up. The area? I won't say it was poverty-stricken....but poor harvests came up occasionally.
Legal and Judicial woes? The Carolina Code of 1532 (a legal code) was a instrument used by the Holy Roman Empire, an it permitted legal cases for witchcraft. You could make the case that it was 'due-process' at the time.
Mass Hysteria? Well....after you got torture to lead onto confessions...it was a self-perpetuating cycle.
Why it just stopped? Mostly judicial exhaustion, locals getting anti-demonic, and oddly enough....the local count’s satisfaction that the “demon-threat” had been eradicated.
Why a ratio of 4 women for each guy....executed? I've always speculated that the guys accused...probably had a better alibi to tell, thus lessening the potential to be found guilty. Course, it could be that more women are demonic in nature....than guys.
The odd thing that it's the only community around....that has a history like that? Yeah, it's a odd note.
