Deport Story

 I read through a piece on the Brit Telegraph.....saying that the German government (really the sixteen individual states)....postponed 8,826 forced returns/deportations in the first half of 2026....mostly all due to the folks going into hiding or simply refusing to declare their current address.

So you can get three consequences out of this.

First, AfD will broadcast this widely and 'shame' the CDU-CSU-SPD coalition.  

Second, it begs the question....once you get on a deport-list....just how quick should you react and put folks under control?  Minutes, days, weeks, months?  

Third, the 8,000 folks having no real fear of consequences?  Well....yeah, that's a blunt topic to discuss.

This number....only for the first half of 2026?  Yeah, and that's leading one to ponder...by the end of 2026...will it go beyond 15,000 who disappeared?  Then you wonder....where exactly do they go?  Will they exit Germany, or just hide with some associate?

Why people keep leaning over to vote AfD?  It's BS like this that pops up and voters ask stupid questions.  

20 August 2026: Germany: 8 Stories

 1.  The RKI folks (national health)....did a study and concluded that 40-percent of Germans don't get enough sleep....more so for men, than women.  Varying reasons given, but there's a list of consequences (bad ones)...if you aren't getting enough sleep.

2.  Focus article on Russia....Russians quietly withdrawing their cash from banks....trust on the decline.  Banks/state itself.....now at risk.

3.  Jan Solwyn....former German federal police officer and currently a security analyst....suggests that in major metro cities of Germany....civil-war potential is brewing....because of crime syndicates/families/clans.  He gave a talk, and indicates that it's beyond the control of what exists for the police.

4.  WELT article: local authorities in Koln examining record and actions of the migration office.  Some suggestion that they were anti-deportation.

5.  Just odd numbers that make no sense.  Currently, in Germany....over 9.2 million people are unemployed.....while the national authorities are hyped up saying that is a shortage of skilled workers.

It begs the question....why expect migration to fix/resolve the shortage?

6.  Someone on social media pointed out: More people died in France this year (2026) from not having air conditioning (7,300) than American deaths from mass shootings in all of recorded U.S. history (1,741).

I paused over this numbers-BS....yeah, the point of climate-change and European heat deaths...you eventually drift over to comparisons that make points invalid.

7.  SPD chatter on income tax reform has started up.  CDU-CSU not exactly in agreement on where this is going.  If you were hyped-up....the SPD end-result is probably 300 Euro in your pocket for the whole year.  Not exactly worth opening a bottle of champaign over. 

8.  German natural gas reserves in trouble?  Well....German levels (as of last week) were at the 50-percent point (mandated levels).  At this time a year ago....it would have been at 67-percent.  Reaching the 80-percent point by 1 November (on the books, it is mandatory that they be at that level)....if you use the calculations....they probably will be 66-to-68 percent.

Problems in buying NG?  Tankers are looking for bids and each load has a hefty price tag.

This relating to a winter shortage of natural gas?  It would depend on winter temperatures and how Feb/Mar goes.  

19 August 2026: Germany: 5 Stories

 1.   Italo (private Italian rail service)....says it plans to a launch long-distance service in Germany in early 2028.

Routes?  Munich-Cologne-Dortmund and Munich-Berlin-Hamburg, 

So like you'd expect....Deutsche Bahn (German railway) is going to court to halt the deal.....saying there's over-capacity allocation problems.

Would Germans dump Bahn....going to Italo....on these routes?  Well....if service was on time, and lesser chaos....yeah.   Cost factor?  Unknown.

2.  If you go dig into fire statistics data...for Bavaria....forest fire damage in the state of Bavaria has fallen by 65 percent in recent years.

Some of this is probably luck....some management practices....some relates to getting crews quickly out to a fire zone.  But what is curious....the state government says it intends to provide at least one billion euros annually for climate protection and climate adaptation....not fire protection.

3.  State of Bavaria says it will investigate/prosecute gas stations that increase gas prices after 12-noon.  National law says from 12-noon on....you can only lessen the price....resetting each day at noon,

4.  Odd evolution going on in Germany....with day-time bars trending (instead of night-time bars).

Prosecco or a Spritz.....now popular and preferred by younger drinkers in Germany.

5.  2.6 earthquake in my region (about 15 miles away)...at 8 PM last night.

Italy And Germany: Issues

 Italy  is currently saying....it will refuse to take back migrants from Germany who originally arrived in Italy (the EU mandates this). 

Why?  Well...Giorgia Meloni says that German aid organizations have brought more than 22,000 migrants to land in Italy.  Meloni wants some type of “compensation.”  You know....a bribe.

Any truth to the aid organizations being German-led?  Various rumors have suggested NGO groups....getting German gov't funds.

What'll happen? Nothing....Italy will keep the 'herd' in Germany, and Germany will just keep the 'herd' happy....while waiting for AfD to politically change things.

Something I Noted Today

 US workers...who are classified as functionally illiterate (low-IQ)....earn roughly the same per hour...your regular average craftsman in the UK (FT article).

Screwed-up?   Well....no  one says how long  ago this trend started (I'm guessing already in 2006....it was heading this way).

How long can this spiral last? Thats the question I'd ask.   If I were the Brit in this mess.....I would not remain.

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.