For five to seven years....tasers have become a common item to be seen with the cops around America. In Germany? It's taken a fairly long time to convince the authorities to accept the idea of tasers.
Today, HR (our regional Hessen public TV network) had a piece on the acceptance trail.
Frankfurt cops have been testing the taser technology (for four months now). It's been decided now that the cops over in Offenbach (far east side of Frankfurt) will carry the tasers. There's a certification process, and it'll be a regular side-arm shortly.
Some opposition groups have hyped up life-threatening injuries being a possibility....especially if this is some old guy in a threatening behavior episode. Folks with heart conditions? Yeah, it could potentially be fatal.
The thing is....if some guy runs around amok with a sword and is coming toward a cop....presently, the cop is going to try to shoot the guy in the leg or shoulder....hoping that the bullet won't cause the guy to die. If you had to pose the scenario of either a bullet-wound or a taser-stun....well...most cops would prefer to just stun the guy and hope out of a hundred applications....only one single heart-condition guy dies from the taser, instead of five to ten guys from a bullet-wound.
Making much of a difference? Here in Hessen, I would take a guess that a hundred-odd occasions come up each year with folks going nuts....making violent threats to the cops or general public....swinging a knife around, and a taser would make this a simple task to take the guy down.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Monday, October 2, 2017
The "If" Story
It's an interesting story involving speculation.
A Nuremberg couple (both lawyers), are contesting the results of last week's election based on the fact that you can only vote for the CSU.....if you live in the state of Bavaria. If you live in the other fifteen German states....you cannot vote for the CSU.
The two lawyers tried to get legal standing back in mid-summer and failed. So it's a new attempt, that likely goes nowhere.
Their logic? The public wanted a frustration vote option, and the only potential option if you'd asked questions over the AfD....would have been to vote for the CSU, which did have some immigration changes in mind (chiefly, a limited number per year).
I should point out here....that even in Bavaria, with the CSU option and no-CDU option in voting.....Bavarians in small numbers still went to the AfD.
The handshake agreement between the CDU and CSU? They are marginally in the same camp with each other, and often have debates behind closed doors.
At one point in 1976, after the election (the SPD won, and partnered with the FDP).....the CSU chief at the time felt that the partnership with the CDU was holding them back from success. The talk for several weeks was that the CSU would go alone and be on the voting option across all of West Germany in the next election. Things were fixed up and the partnership remained.
I don't necessarily buy this argument by the lawyer couple but it would make things more interesting if you had the CSU option across all of Germany.
A Nuremberg couple (both lawyers), are contesting the results of last week's election based on the fact that you can only vote for the CSU.....if you live in the state of Bavaria. If you live in the other fifteen German states....you cannot vote for the CSU.
The two lawyers tried to get legal standing back in mid-summer and failed. So it's a new attempt, that likely goes nowhere.
Their logic? The public wanted a frustration vote option, and the only potential option if you'd asked questions over the AfD....would have been to vote for the CSU, which did have some immigration changes in mind (chiefly, a limited number per year).
I should point out here....that even in Bavaria, with the CSU option and no-CDU option in voting.....Bavarians in small numbers still went to the AfD.
The handshake agreement between the CDU and CSU? They are marginally in the same camp with each other, and often have debates behind closed doors.
At one point in 1976, after the election (the SPD won, and partnered with the FDP).....the CSU chief at the time felt that the partnership with the CDU was holding them back from success. The talk for several weeks was that the CSU would go alone and be on the voting option across all of West Germany in the next election. Things were fixed up and the partnership remained.
I don't necessarily buy this argument by the lawyer couple but it would make things more interesting if you had the CSU option across all of Germany.
Former Air Force People and Lindsey Air Station/Wiesbaden
From 1945 until 1993....the Air Force operated the medical center in town and the Lindsey Air Station. To be honest, by the mid-1980s.....most of the Air Force folks began to disappear and by 1993...it was mostly all Army folks in the local area.
If you asked what's changed or different?
The Big Apple (the one and only real disco in Wiesbaden) is long gone. I doubt if there's a single disco club in the town left.
There's three Kentucky Fried Chicken places left around town (the newest at the train-station).
The old bus central station that existed near Schwalbacher Strasse? Gone....total redesign of bus flow in Wiesbaden.
The train station? Mostly still the same. There is a Dunkin Donuts in the interior now, and a small McDonalds operation.
The area of Lindsey Air Station? Mostly redesigned as a middle-class neighborhood and twenty-odd apartment buildings added.
The demographics of Wiesbaden? Turks make up 13,000 of the local population now. Poles? 7,000. Italians? 4,000. 'Multi-culti' would be an appropriate phrase to use now around town. The west-end, unfortunately now is the low-income area of town....while Sonnenberg is considered the high-end.
Pizzerias? Some would argue that Bierstadt has become pizzeria-capital, with twenty-odd pizzeria operations going on presently.
The American Arms? Set to be torn down and student-housing to be built.
The BX? The old BX sits there....now unused. A newer operation was built on the back side of the Army housing area....probably double the size of the old site. The old commissary is still operating.
Crime? Over the last decade, most locals would say that crime has gone up....mostly house-break-ins. More alcohol incidents are noted locally now.
The old city post office next to the train station is long gone now. Now a mini-mall area exists....with marginal customer traffic.
The Schiersteiner Bridge? About four years ago, they finally decided that it needed to be replaced and started on the replacement bridge next to it. Somewhere in the construction phase....some guy bumped the support column and triggered a BIG event where no one could use the old bridge for several months and triggered one of the biggest traffic tie-ups of the past fifty years. The new Schiersteiner Bridge? Still a year away. The old bridge is running but with limited traffic.
The Frankfurt Airport is now considered a big deal with the region. A train leaves every twenty-odd minutes from Wiesbaden to the Airport, and onto Frankfurt..
The population is noted now at 280,000 and likely will go to 300,000 within twenty years.
Mainz is about to turn the old harbor area into massive new upscale housing, and invent a suburb out of thin air.
A wine-fest is run in Wiesbaden every August now, around the Markt-Platz area.
Bike trails have been built all over the place in the past decade.
Finally....it still has that small metropolitan look and image. You could have walked away thirty years ago and find it mostly looking the same.
If you asked what's changed or different?
The Big Apple (the one and only real disco in Wiesbaden) is long gone. I doubt if there's a single disco club in the town left.
There's three Kentucky Fried Chicken places left around town (the newest at the train-station).
The old bus central station that existed near Schwalbacher Strasse? Gone....total redesign of bus flow in Wiesbaden.
The train station? Mostly still the same. There is a Dunkin Donuts in the interior now, and a small McDonalds operation.
The area of Lindsey Air Station? Mostly redesigned as a middle-class neighborhood and twenty-odd apartment buildings added.
The demographics of Wiesbaden? Turks make up 13,000 of the local population now. Poles? 7,000. Italians? 4,000. 'Multi-culti' would be an appropriate phrase to use now around town. The west-end, unfortunately now is the low-income area of town....while Sonnenberg is considered the high-end.
Pizzerias? Some would argue that Bierstadt has become pizzeria-capital, with twenty-odd pizzeria operations going on presently.
The American Arms? Set to be torn down and student-housing to be built.
The BX? The old BX sits there....now unused. A newer operation was built on the back side of the Army housing area....probably double the size of the old site. The old commissary is still operating.
Crime? Over the last decade, most locals would say that crime has gone up....mostly house-break-ins. More alcohol incidents are noted locally now.
The old city post office next to the train station is long gone now. Now a mini-mall area exists....with marginal customer traffic.
The Schiersteiner Bridge? About four years ago, they finally decided that it needed to be replaced and started on the replacement bridge next to it. Somewhere in the construction phase....some guy bumped the support column and triggered a BIG event where no one could use the old bridge for several months and triggered one of the biggest traffic tie-ups of the past fifty years. The new Schiersteiner Bridge? Still a year away. The old bridge is running but with limited traffic.
The Frankfurt Airport is now considered a big deal with the region. A train leaves every twenty-odd minutes from Wiesbaden to the Airport, and onto Frankfurt..
The population is noted now at 280,000 and likely will go to 300,000 within twenty years.
Mainz is about to turn the old harbor area into massive new upscale housing, and invent a suburb out of thin air.
A wine-fest is run in Wiesbaden every August now, around the Markt-Platz area.
Bike trails have been built all over the place in the past decade.
Finally....it still has that small metropolitan look and image. You could have walked away thirty years ago and find it mostly looking the same.
Lower Saxony Election Polling
Presently for the state election in Lower Saxony....the polling looks like this:
CDU: 33.1 percent
SPD: 32.8 percent
AfD: 8.1 percent
Greens: 9.9 percent
FDP: 8.0 percent
Linke Party: 4.0 percent.
In this state episode....would the CDU be able to team up with the SPD? Questionable. It's more likely to be a FDP-Greens episode.
CDU: 33.1 percent
SPD: 32.8 percent
AfD: 8.1 percent
Greens: 9.9 percent
FDP: 8.0 percent
Linke Party: 4.0 percent.
In this state episode....would the CDU be able to team up with the SPD? Questionable. It's more likely to be a FDP-Greens episode.
E-Bikes Story
There's an interesting business report from N-TV today....that has to do with E-Bikes.
Around five years ago....E-Bikes took off on sales. In discount stores and bike shops....the E-Bike trend is maxing out.
The curious thing is that if you go and price them....there's two deals. There's the more expensive European-made bike (typically over 4,000 to 6,000 Euro range for the nicer bikes), and there's the Chinese-made bike which often runs in the 1,500 Euro range.
N-TV hyped up this complaint made to the EU....by EBMA (the Association of European Bicycle Manufacturers).
What EBMA is saying is that the Chinese are exporting hundreds of thousands of E-Bikes into the EU at prices BELOW the product rate. In their mind, it's very unfair. Adding to this....they think illegal state funding by the Chinese is also being played out.
N-TV says that 20 million bikes get bought each year in the EU, and they estimate that 10-percent are E-Bikes. Me? I think it's closer now to a 50-percent sales rate in Germany itself. If you walk into most German shops.....the E-Bikes now take up almost half of the sales floor. But this cost factor is what makes people shake their heads.
The negative side of this is that the theft rate of bikes in general (even before E-Bikes came along) is hefty. If you went out and laid down 3,000 Euro for a E-Bike....you have to go and buy insurance to go along with it. In urbanized areas like Wiesbaden? You can ask a hundred bike-enthusiasts and probably a quarter of them have had bikes stolen in the past three years.
As for the Chinese problem? I think most of the Chinese companies have multiplied to the level where there's just too many bikes being manufactured, and they've reached a stage where minimum profit is possible. If the EU were to step in and cause an investigation....it'd bring down the whole industry (at least for a year or two).
Around five years ago....E-Bikes took off on sales. In discount stores and bike shops....the E-Bike trend is maxing out.
The curious thing is that if you go and price them....there's two deals. There's the more expensive European-made bike (typically over 4,000 to 6,000 Euro range for the nicer bikes), and there's the Chinese-made bike which often runs in the 1,500 Euro range.
N-TV hyped up this complaint made to the EU....by EBMA (the Association of European Bicycle Manufacturers).
What EBMA is saying is that the Chinese are exporting hundreds of thousands of E-Bikes into the EU at prices BELOW the product rate. In their mind, it's very unfair. Adding to this....they think illegal state funding by the Chinese is also being played out.
N-TV says that 20 million bikes get bought each year in the EU, and they estimate that 10-percent are E-Bikes. Me? I think it's closer now to a 50-percent sales rate in Germany itself. If you walk into most German shops.....the E-Bikes now take up almost half of the sales floor. But this cost factor is what makes people shake their heads.
The negative side of this is that the theft rate of bikes in general (even before E-Bikes came along) is hefty. If you went out and laid down 3,000 Euro for a E-Bike....you have to go and buy insurance to go along with it. In urbanized areas like Wiesbaden? You can ask a hundred bike-enthusiasts and probably a quarter of them have had bikes stolen in the past three years.
As for the Chinese problem? I think most of the Chinese companies have multiplied to the level where there's just too many bikes being manufactured, and they've reached a stage where minimum profit is possible. If the EU were to step in and cause an investigation....it'd bring down the whole industry (at least for a year or two).
The Broke Shoulder Story
I sat and watched a German public-TV show (ARD) on Saturday night....shot entirely live. The show? 'Spiel fur dein Land". It loosely translates to 'Play for your Land'.
The gimmick of the show is that you have German-language countries (Switzerland, Germany and Austria) and a couple of stars or promi's show up for the game-show.
For the Austrians, was the legendary singer from the 1960s/1970s.....Peter Kraus. A rock-and-roll guy....he's fairly well known in both Austria and Germany. He's 78 years old. For an older guy like this, I was surprised....he looked extremely fit and healthy.
So about an hour into this two-hour game-show....there's this game where three of the contestants have get 'physical'.
This is the remarkable thing about German shows....you see this on a continual basis....some kind of action sequence and the potential for injuries or painful mistakes is significant. I've remarked about this to my wife on a continual basis that no network in the US would dare let some person do a risky stunt like this. I would take a guess that at least three or four German stars or promis get injured each year...some seriously.
The sequence with Peter and the two other folks gets physical....Peter falls on the floor at an angle...shoulder against the floor, and he comes up in a bit of pain.
Ten minutes later...they've got an ice-pack out and he's in a fair amount of pain.
Peter lasts for maybe another fifteen minutes and he apologizes for leaving early but he thinks the hospital is necessary.
Today? Bild is reporting that he broke his shoulder. He's on pain-killers and probably will be in the hospital for a couple of days.
I just shake my head because this necessity of getting physical is virtually built into 90-percent of these star or promi-shows from German TV.
The gimmick of the show is that you have German-language countries (Switzerland, Germany and Austria) and a couple of stars or promi's show up for the game-show.
For the Austrians, was the legendary singer from the 1960s/1970s.....Peter Kraus. A rock-and-roll guy....he's fairly well known in both Austria and Germany. He's 78 years old. For an older guy like this, I was surprised....he looked extremely fit and healthy.
So about an hour into this two-hour game-show....there's this game where three of the contestants have get 'physical'.
This is the remarkable thing about German shows....you see this on a continual basis....some kind of action sequence and the potential for injuries or painful mistakes is significant. I've remarked about this to my wife on a continual basis that no network in the US would dare let some person do a risky stunt like this. I would take a guess that at least three or four German stars or promis get injured each year...some seriously.
The sequence with Peter and the two other folks gets physical....Peter falls on the floor at an angle...shoulder against the floor, and he comes up in a bit of pain.
Ten minutes later...they've got an ice-pack out and he's in a fair amount of pain.
Peter lasts for maybe another fifteen minutes and he apologizes for leaving early but he thinks the hospital is necessary.
Today? Bild is reporting that he broke his shoulder. He's on pain-killers and probably will be in the hospital for a couple of days.
I just shake my head because this necessity of getting physical is virtually built into 90-percent of these star or promi-shows from German TV.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
The Austrian Nigab Story
Since midnight in Austria, there's been a new law in effect....no facial concealment allowed.
The fine for concealing your face in public? 150 Euro.
The use of Nigabs (the typical Muslim covering for women)? Illegal....at least if in a public setting.
The exceptions to the law? If you wear respiratory masks....there need to be a medical reason for it. Clown and carnival masks....only to be worn during fest periods.
The negative of this? Some Austrian journalists have pointed out that if you wore a winter-scarf and covered half your face...it'd violate the law. No one says much about fake beards but they might be illegal as well.
My humble opinion is that this will get challenged in court....eventually to the European Court of Justice, and be thrown out.
The fine for concealing your face in public? 150 Euro.
The use of Nigabs (the typical Muslim covering for women)? Illegal....at least if in a public setting.
The exceptions to the law? If you wear respiratory masks....there need to be a medical reason for it. Clown and carnival masks....only to be worn during fest periods.
The negative of this? Some Austrian journalists have pointed out that if you wore a winter-scarf and covered half your face...it'd violate the law. No one says much about fake beards but they might be illegal as well.
My humble opinion is that this will get challenged in court....eventually to the European Court of Justice, and be thrown out.
The Answer to the Catalonia Issue
It's doubtful that the election in Catalonia will occur today....mostly because the cops have shut down virtually everything. Madrid's federal government will enforce the Constitution.
So, here's my simple fix. Instead of one single autonomous state at work here (Catalonia)....it's time that the Catalonia folks package up this whole disgruntlement into a package deal with five other autonomous states as well.
You add Aragon (to the west), Valencia (to the south), Navarre (further west), Basque (further west), and the Balearic Islands (off the coast of Catalonia).
If you add up the economics of the five....they come fairly close to fifty percent of the incoming taxation revenue for Spain.
If the six total regions went to a voting mechanism, the federal police would not have the strength to enforce the law across all six regions. The vote would occur, and the exit would begin.
So, here's my simple fix. Instead of one single autonomous state at work here (Catalonia)....it's time that the Catalonia folks package up this whole disgruntlement into a package deal with five other autonomous states as well.
You add Aragon (to the west), Valencia (to the south), Navarre (further west), Basque (further west), and the Balearic Islands (off the coast of Catalonia).
If you add up the economics of the five....they come fairly close to fifty percent of the incoming taxation revenue for Spain.
If the six total regions went to a voting mechanism, the federal police would not have the strength to enforce the law across all six regions. The vote would occur, and the exit would begin.
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