Well....yeah. Announced yesterday. The German Defense Ministry announced that the Bundeswehr will send one Patriot missile battery and 150 German soldiers.
Deployment is scheduled to begin at the end of June 2026 and last 90 days.
The German unit will replace a U.S. Patriot unit currently stationed in Turkey and will operate under NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense situation.
AfD: 29-percent (up 1)
CDU-CSU: 22-percent (down 1)
Greens: 14-percent (up 1.5)
SPD: 12.5 percent (down .5)
LINKE: 10.5 percent
BSW: 3.5 percent
FDP: 3.5 percent
Observation: If you were on the left of the spectrum....voting SPD....you likely are eyeballing the Greens as a alternative. If you add up the lefty-group....it's near 40-percent of the public currently....but heavily divided.
1. MDR (regional public TV network....to eastern region of Germany)...announced yesterday....for next 3 years, no Tatort episode productions from their region. Cash-flow problem. TV crew/team heavily critical of decision.
Basically....the 'governors' limited increase on TV tax to public TV, and the reaction are staged 'cuts'. What will fill the hours? No one says much....probably reruns, game-shows, and older movies.
I sat four nights ago...watching a 1963 cowboy movie at prime-time while watching a regional public channel. 'Nevada Smith'.....excellent movie, but odd to be in prime-time setting.
2. 2,995 gas stations (of 15,240 stations) have violated the twelve-noon gas pricing rule. No word if gov't will 'punish' them.
3. Weidel (AfD 'Boss') has moved in the popular politician listing to the top five of Germany (1st time ever). Oddly, in the ranking....she's higher than Bavaria's Soder.
4. US doctor who had been in Africa.....has ebola....now kept in Germany.
5. My impression of AfD's Björn Höcke?
Intelligent guy....educated...I'd rank at least two AfD folks ahead of him on party status.
Negative? If he gives speeches....there's always this 'hint' of nationalism...leading back to speeches of the 1930s. Maybe accidental....maybe intentional.
Currently....he's a state-player....not on the national path.
6. 'Jump' and 'Orange' were driving schools in the Berlin region. One day (in the past month)....they (the management)....up and disappeared....with all the deposits.
Path leads to Bulgaria....fake schools. Authorities investigating.
7. Become apparent after the police had to shoot that escaped tiger in Leipzig....there is NOT a national code of rules on exotic animals. What rules do exist....differs state by state.
Going to be a discussion....to have a national regulation about keeping dangerous pets.
1. If you watched ARD (public TV) last night....9:45....the Carin Miosga forum show....it was a fairly long live chat with CSU's Soder (Premier-President of Bavaria).
Basically....he's selling himself as the potential replacement for Merz...if a step-down occurs. On the interview? I'd give him high marks.
2. Tiger-Queen story? Well....in Leipzig over the weekend, cops got called....tiger loose.
They arrive to find a real tiger....ending up shooting it. Apparently...this gal in Leipzig has a private collection (11 of them), and this one got loose.
Germany has a license program for exotic pets and strict requirements. Based off reports....it doesn't appear that she has a current existing license.
3. Crisis has started up in the European Song Competition.....some Germans are tired of losing...to the point that they are asking why allow the state-culture fund funnel money into the deal. Amount? I looked it up...comes to around half-a-million Euro per year.
I doubt if it's a huge number (probably into the tens of thousands feeling this way).
4. At current pace of things....by the end of 2026....AfD's numbers will reach 30-percent on polls (my humble belief). It makes things very difficult with the CDU-CSU folks, and how they build future partnerships/coalitions.
5. Austria: 67-year-old woman hiker....attacked by cows while crossing a meadow....dead.
6. Interior Minister asking for 10 billion Euro for civil defense.
7. Green Party talking up prioritizing child poverty in Germany.
Ten random thoughts:
1. I had first-class care.....finding almost no criticisms.
2. Food-wise....it did get 'boring' after the 5th day.
3. I probably watched twelve hours of CNN/BBC over the 6 days. Yeah, there is still a element of propaganda existing.
4. It was pretty nifty to have a refrigerator in the room (pull-out drawer) and sip cold liquids.
5. Nurse came by one morning while I was on the inverted hospital bed (my feet about a foot above my head), and got a pulse rate of 40 out of me. He and the Doc got concerned. I was ultra-relaxed that morning. If I had a hiding place in the house for a hospital bed....yeah, I'd buy one.
6. The 'cantina' in the clinic offers beer.
7. On my index of ultra-boring....1-to-10....it was a '12'.
8. To step in.....finally getting to a bed....I had to encounter and pass through 12 offices/steps. Luckily, it was not an emergency.
9. Free coffee.....all day long.
10. Free bananas and free pears....all day long. I probably haven't eaten a pear since the 1980s.
