1. The union for the Bahn folks (railway system in Germany) voted....saying indefinite strikes are approved. Expectation next? likely to be three to five day strikes in January.
The lesser-hours for work appear to be the big deal that they are aiming for. I don't see the Bahn management folks being agreeable on this.
2. Gov't now lacks bonus-money for E-cars sold to consumers, under their program. Figure in the range of 60,000 E-cars were in this 'line'....when the money ran out. Will upset a number of Germans.
3. General talk going on about more tax on airline ticket prices in 2024.
I'm not saying you are better off in riding a bus over to Lux City or Amsterdam to fly out....but it could eventually get that way. They have to make up for tax losses in some fashion.
4. NTV poll says AfD Party now at 23-percent in national polling....highest level ever for them.
5. 455 voting districts in Berlin MUST have a 2021 national election effort once again....because the 2021 vote was so f**ked-up. To be 11 Feb 2024. Constitutional Court deemed this so yesterday.
Bad thing? I doubt that the parties will advertise much, and the end-result will be less votes than in 2021. Course, AfD might make a huge effort and shock people with a number number. Hard to predict this outcome.
6. Berlin City says on 31 December.....various prosecutors will be on call, and draft papers as assaults occur on New Year's eve....to show how tough things will be.
7. New poll on Chancellor's approval. Only one in five Germans think he's doing a good job.
Just a humble view.....Scholz hasn't really screwed up, it's just that on a confidence ranking....he's not selling well on the SPD Party or German 'brand'.
8. My wife (German in nature) and I got into a broad talk over lack of E-car charging stations in our village. We are a outer-ring situation to Wiesbaden....4,000 residents in the village. Presently, not a single public-use E-car charger around.
So I brought this up and asked....even if they installed one or two chargers....is there any place where a person might park the car for 2 hours.....to charge up? No....is the general response. Even if you put a charger up at the village church....other than a coffee shop....there's not place to entice people to sit for 120 minutes to get a charge.
9. Weird ZDF talk show from last night (late)....via the Markus Lanz public forum show.
Whole talk with guests was about the general lack of positive feelings in Germany. General poll done recently says that almost half the population think in ten years....they will be worse off.
Fridays-for-the-Future guest offered up that they are challenges and it just seems like a lot of young people are focused on climate change woes in a harsh negative way.
10. There's an interesting article written Rainer Zitelmann for Focus. If you can find it....worth a read.
He's written a book on the idea that ARD/ZDF (public TV empire of Germany) are actually turning people into experts (for their talk shows/public forums)....who really are not experts. Yeah, in this US...CNN has been doing this for 20 years (successfully).
11. Over the next 24 hours....hurricane like weather is to arrive in Germany (storm is named Zoltan). Lot of talk that plane schedules will be messed up and that trains will be shutdown. If you were planning on travel for the 21st/22nd of December in Germany....you will be screwed-over.
12. Some kind of report out of Ukraine....BS-factor might be in the reality of this. They say Russian soldiers are reporting fever and health issues. There's some belief that rat infestation has reached a level where health risks are involved.
13. Back in April, I chatted over an odd knife attack at a fitness studio in Duisburg, Germany (far north). Four guys cut pretty badly, with the knife guy escaping. Based on a description, cops eventually arrested the guy....27-year-old Syrian guy.
So in holding the guy....they came to realize he'd also knifed another German a week or two prior to this fitness studio business, and actually killed that German.
Long investigation...led to his court case this week. He'd arrived in 2016, and been noted in various ways as 'radicalized'.
Court decided by the end (yesterday) that a 20-years sentence which would have been typical....was not enough. He has been deemed a permanent threat to society, and will stay in prison for the rest of his life. At some point, it was noted that he believed Sharia Law was in effect in Germany...meaning that if you violated it as a German, you needed to be executed. I would imagine that disturbed the court a good bit.
Safe situation in prison? No....this guy would have to be in some maximum security place and not allowed much around other prisoners or guards.
As for what he was doing from 2016 to now? It doesn't seem like he was working, or producing any real contribution to himself or society.
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