I've essayed over the past two months about the 'search' for the new leader for the SPD Party (the left-of-center group). Presently, the candidate application period is open, but only a couple have applied. Most journalists will say that the 'real' candidates are going to wait until the final week to declare themselves for the job of leading the party.
A curious note....Micheal Roth....is one of the few declared for potential vote. Yesterday, I was reading through commentary on the guy, and he'd noted one thing he wanted the party to stand up and go for....to dump the German passport, and have a EU passport instead.
There is an element of play going on.....where various groups (for differing reasons) want to dump national identity and instead have the EU-face over most all processes. Selling the EU-passport idea to Germans? I doubt if you could find more than 10-percent of Germans who agree with this idea. Even in the SPD Party itself....it might be fairly difficult.
The thing about this leadership search....the Party really needs some radical new approach and fresh face. Over the past three years, the SPD has probably lost around half of their enthusiastic voters, and dwells at 12-to-14 percent in national polling. With the three state elections slated for this fall....there's nothing good coming out of the polls for the SPD.
Maybe the selling point of the Party should be some pro-EU massive public appeal and attract only the pro-EU crowd as voters.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Friday, July 5, 2019
The Walter Lubcke Murder Episode Update
It's been around two months since the murder of the CDU political figure from Kassel, and about a month since they 'fingered' a younger German guy (referred to as Stephan E in the news) as the guy who pulled the execution-style murder.
So about a week into the holding business of Stephan E.....the cops had a confession and felt pretty hyped-up that this would be a simple case. In the whole chat to the cops.....he said he did all of the act himself, with no help. So if you go by this....no real conspiracy involving others.
Well....the cops haven't agreed to that angle.
And this week, the lawyer for Stephan E went did a fairly blunt tactical maneuver.....the confession is yanked and the whole case will have to appear before a judge and be tried.
A problem? No....the cops say it's not an issue.
For the prosecutor? Well, it might turn this into a case with public appeal. If Stephan E reaches some point of getting on the chair and offering public statements....saying that the politician's comments had infuriated him and suggest the political chatter was hate-speech-like....it would present an interesting case for the general public.
There's no doubt....the judges will go and convict Stephan E....the news media has hyped this to the ninth-degree. There is doubt about this being a one-person only crime. Will hate-speech enter into this whole court session and cause people double-think over who did what and how it was interpreted? That's possible now.
So about a week into the holding business of Stephan E.....the cops had a confession and felt pretty hyped-up that this would be a simple case. In the whole chat to the cops.....he said he did all of the act himself, with no help. So if you go by this....no real conspiracy involving others.
Well....the cops haven't agreed to that angle.
And this week, the lawyer for Stephan E went did a fairly blunt tactical maneuver.....the confession is yanked and the whole case will have to appear before a judge and be tried.
A problem? No....the cops say it's not an issue.
For the prosecutor? Well, it might turn this into a case with public appeal. If Stephan E reaches some point of getting on the chair and offering public statements....saying that the politician's comments had infuriated him and suggest the political chatter was hate-speech-like....it would present an interesting case for the general public.
There's no doubt....the judges will go and convict Stephan E....the news media has hyped this to the ninth-degree. There is doubt about this being a one-person only crime. Will hate-speech enter into this whole court session and cause people double-think over who did what and how it was interpreted? That's possible now.
A Tattoo Story
I don't usually have any issues with folks going out, and getting various tattoos....for their various reasons.
That US Army wife I noted at the Ramstein commissary from a decade ago....who had some cartoon on her back of a lady in some lusty 'play'? Well....it probably should have been a bit covered up while walking around the commissary.
That $2,000 that some junior airman (that I worked with) spent on some series of tattoos to explain her 'path' in life? I just kinda overlooked that as well.
Today, I was on a bus returning to Wiesbaden....riding in the back on a 'perched' position. We stopped and this young German gal got onboard....standing no more than eight feet from me. "Emily Fxxxx". I know her name because she had entire first and last name tattooed onto the front part of her neck. Yes, all in script fashion, and easily readable.
She sat down in front of me, and then I could notice the various tattooed words on each finger.
Maybe 18 years old.
She unfolded some sheet from the Arbeitsamt (the jobs office).
I sat there and tried to imagine how a job situation or coffee shop would handle this. Me? Sorry, I probably wouldn't have hired her. You'd just have customers staring and asking stupid questions. She might even be the type that has a full facial tattoo done one day and you get week after week of surprises.
Maybe it's a plea for attention or just some crazy idea that popped into her head. How would the tattoo appear in ten to fifteen years? If she gained weight.....would you even be able to read the Emily portion?
With the noticeable piece on the fingers, and some apparent tattoo on her back....it probably adds up to at least 2k Euro of work.by some artist. I just sat there and felt some relief this wasn't my kid.
That US Army wife I noted at the Ramstein commissary from a decade ago....who had some cartoon on her back of a lady in some lusty 'play'? Well....it probably should have been a bit covered up while walking around the commissary.
That $2,000 that some junior airman (that I worked with) spent on some series of tattoos to explain her 'path' in life? I just kinda overlooked that as well.
Today, I was on a bus returning to Wiesbaden....riding in the back on a 'perched' position. We stopped and this young German gal got onboard....standing no more than eight feet from me. "Emily Fxxxx". I know her name because she had entire first and last name tattooed onto the front part of her neck. Yes, all in script fashion, and easily readable.
She sat down in front of me, and then I could notice the various tattooed words on each finger.
Maybe 18 years old.
She unfolded some sheet from the Arbeitsamt (the jobs office).
I sat there and tried to imagine how a job situation or coffee shop would handle this. Me? Sorry, I probably wouldn't have hired her. You'd just have customers staring and asking stupid questions. She might even be the type that has a full facial tattoo done one day and you get week after week of surprises.
Maybe it's a plea for attention or just some crazy idea that popped into her head. How would the tattoo appear in ten to fifteen years? If she gained weight.....would you even be able to read the Emily portion?
With the noticeable piece on the fingers, and some apparent tattoo on her back....it probably adds up to at least 2k Euro of work.by some artist. I just sat there and felt some relief this wasn't my kid.
Pool Story
This story came up in various pieces of the German and British press....so I went to a number of sources, and I'll tell it in a simplified fashion.
About forty miles to the west of Stuttgart (way down in the southern quarter of Germany)....there's this town along the German-French border of Kehl. About five minutes away is Strasbourg, which is a fairly known city in France, which has the EU presence. Kehl has maybe 35,000 residents, and has a direct relationship with it's French folks just minutes away.
A weekend or two ago.....at the public pool complex in Kehl....a number of North African 'kids' (young men) showed up. Things went into 'turbo' and some young men/boys....got into some serious misbehavior.
The German life-guards are the folks who maintain tranquility at German public pools, and once they blow the whistle.....they give you the signal to clean up your act. From my various pool visits in Germany....it just takes one single whistle to get German kids/young men to straighten up. A second whistle? It generally means someone is leaving the pool complex, and they might not be allowed back for a week or two.
Well....in this case, the north African kids (young men) didn't react to the whistle or the comments from the lifeguards. The cops got called. It's stupid to waste the time of cops on something like this....but if things look 'out-of-control'.....you've got no choice.
No one says how many cops, but it appears that 'multiple' vehicles were in the mix.....meaning more than a couple of cops.
Upon arrival, the cops established authority, and individuals left (no one utters the phrase 'banned' but it appears that this action might be in the works).
But the news journalists come to the pool and ask questions about the fifty-odd kids/young men. The pool manager? He refers to a police comment and the cops (Germans) uttered the phrase....'Nafri', which is a slang term (don't use it in front of any German who claims to be a liberal). The term would be negative and refer to North Africans in a less-than-positive way.
Naturally, the journalists hyped this up, and the cops had to go and explain things to them.
This may come back to slam the cops and require them to take a class in terms not to utter.
But here's the thing. This has been a fairly hot summer (not just in Germany but France as well), and this year has seen more than a couple of events where young men (boys) were lacking respect or showed disrespect to the pool authority or police. Part of this I think....is heat related....but part of it might relate in some way to either drug-use or alcohol.
What happens now in Kehl? No one really says, and I think the political folks (maybe the cops too) hope that the mess just dissolves away. The pool folks may be thinking about a bouncer-system being enacted....private security....to avoid the cops in the future. Course, that would trigger cost upon the city recreation department, and you could be looking at 20,000 Euro a month to pay for four guys to be there on weekends to settle disturbances in a professional way. Go figure the cost to the consumers, and you might be looking at your pool entry fee going from 3-Euro to 6-Euro....just to ensure peace and tranquility.
I know, it's stupid, and you shouldn't have to pay for four bouncers to be standing around a pool complex to toss young men out because of their stupid behavior. But this is the only way to 'manage' your way out of a mess without looking racist.
About forty miles to the west of Stuttgart (way down in the southern quarter of Germany)....there's this town along the German-French border of Kehl. About five minutes away is Strasbourg, which is a fairly known city in France, which has the EU presence. Kehl has maybe 35,000 residents, and has a direct relationship with it's French folks just minutes away.
A weekend or two ago.....at the public pool complex in Kehl....a number of North African 'kids' (young men) showed up. Things went into 'turbo' and some young men/boys....got into some serious misbehavior.
The German life-guards are the folks who maintain tranquility at German public pools, and once they blow the whistle.....they give you the signal to clean up your act. From my various pool visits in Germany....it just takes one single whistle to get German kids/young men to straighten up. A second whistle? It generally means someone is leaving the pool complex, and they might not be allowed back for a week or two.
Well....in this case, the north African kids (young men) didn't react to the whistle or the comments from the lifeguards. The cops got called. It's stupid to waste the time of cops on something like this....but if things look 'out-of-control'.....you've got no choice.
No one says how many cops, but it appears that 'multiple' vehicles were in the mix.....meaning more than a couple of cops.
Upon arrival, the cops established authority, and individuals left (no one utters the phrase 'banned' but it appears that this action might be in the works).
But the news journalists come to the pool and ask questions about the fifty-odd kids/young men. The pool manager? He refers to a police comment and the cops (Germans) uttered the phrase....'Nafri', which is a slang term (don't use it in front of any German who claims to be a liberal). The term would be negative and refer to North Africans in a less-than-positive way.
Naturally, the journalists hyped this up, and the cops had to go and explain things to them.
This may come back to slam the cops and require them to take a class in terms not to utter.
But here's the thing. This has been a fairly hot summer (not just in Germany but France as well), and this year has seen more than a couple of events where young men (boys) were lacking respect or showed disrespect to the pool authority or police. Part of this I think....is heat related....but part of it might relate in some way to either drug-use or alcohol.
What happens now in Kehl? No one really says, and I think the political folks (maybe the cops too) hope that the mess just dissolves away. The pool folks may be thinking about a bouncer-system being enacted....private security....to avoid the cops in the future. Course, that would trigger cost upon the city recreation department, and you could be looking at 20,000 Euro a month to pay for four guys to be there on weekends to settle disturbances in a professional way. Go figure the cost to the consumers, and you might be looking at your pool entry fee going from 3-Euro to 6-Euro....just to ensure peace and tranquility.
I know, it's stupid, and you shouldn't have to pay for four bouncers to be standing around a pool complex to toss young men out because of their stupid behavior. But this is the only way to 'manage' your way out of a mess without looking racist.
Court Story
Some court activity came up in the news of Germany this morning, which has a bit of a twist to it.
Back around five years ago, with various Islamic Germans running off to the civil war in Iraq and Syria....they made up this law and oddly enough....got enough votes to pass it.
The law says if you leave the country and go participate in the war (all in a willing fashion)....if you try to return, and it's confirmed of your membership in the IS state....you will do prison-time in Germany.
In some cases, as Germans 'woke' up in the war and kinda realized the mess they'd gotten themselves into.....they found ways to return to Germany, face court action, accept a general sentence which was built more like a rehab and de-brainwashing situation than a real prison system. In most of the cases, the authorities saw some reason to be reasonable, and the sentence would be in the range of two years.
One can argue over this tactic, but they had to do something to discourage young men and women from running off to the war. My suspicion is that the law didn't change anything, and it simply became more of a problem for those who realized how screwed-up that the war was.
Well....this ISIS German female came up in the last year or two (having been in Syria/Iraq for four years. The authorities added up the membership in the militia and her actions, and today....the regional court of Stuttgart (the higher branch) dumped five years on the 32-year old lady. Based on comments from the journalist....the lady's lawyer was hoping for a lesser deal (maybe in the two to three year range).
What got the sentence up to around the max? Well....she ran a blog during this period of the war, and featured pictures and generalized propaganda....all pro-stuff, and it acted more or less like recruiting material. I suspect if she'd just kept her mouth shut, and avoided pictures and emphasizing the positive nature of ISIS....this would have been a marginal sentence.
Fair? Here's the thing, people have freedom to determine their path in life, and it would be one clear path to say that a 15-year old went and did something but needed have a simple life lesson (maybe some common sense and de-brain-washing business). But after about age twenty....as an adult, you ought to be clearly thinking about your actions and how they relate to the landscape. In this case, she didn't just participate in this civil war.....she advertised it, and did recruitment-like stories. For the Germans, they have to send a message about this behavior.
Back around five years ago, with various Islamic Germans running off to the civil war in Iraq and Syria....they made up this law and oddly enough....got enough votes to pass it.
The law says if you leave the country and go participate in the war (all in a willing fashion)....if you try to return, and it's confirmed of your membership in the IS state....you will do prison-time in Germany.
In some cases, as Germans 'woke' up in the war and kinda realized the mess they'd gotten themselves into.....they found ways to return to Germany, face court action, accept a general sentence which was built more like a rehab and de-brainwashing situation than a real prison system. In most of the cases, the authorities saw some reason to be reasonable, and the sentence would be in the range of two years.
One can argue over this tactic, but they had to do something to discourage young men and women from running off to the war. My suspicion is that the law didn't change anything, and it simply became more of a problem for those who realized how screwed-up that the war was.
Well....this ISIS German female came up in the last year or two (having been in Syria/Iraq for four years. The authorities added up the membership in the militia and her actions, and today....the regional court of Stuttgart (the higher branch) dumped five years on the 32-year old lady. Based on comments from the journalist....the lady's lawyer was hoping for a lesser deal (maybe in the two to three year range).
What got the sentence up to around the max? Well....she ran a blog during this period of the war, and featured pictures and generalized propaganda....all pro-stuff, and it acted more or less like recruiting material. I suspect if she'd just kept her mouth shut, and avoided pictures and emphasizing the positive nature of ISIS....this would have been a marginal sentence.
Fair? Here's the thing, people have freedom to determine their path in life, and it would be one clear path to say that a 15-year old went and did something but needed have a simple life lesson (maybe some common sense and de-brain-washing business). But after about age twenty....as an adult, you ought to be clearly thinking about your actions and how they relate to the landscape. In this case, she didn't just participate in this civil war.....she advertised it, and did recruitment-like stories. For the Germans, they have to send a message about this behavior.
Is Water in Germany Now a Top Three Issue?
Well....after the drought of 2018....a number of water-controllers laid down the situation....that various communities simply don't have an unlimited amount of water (as much as people and politicians might think this). So with the central region of Germany now nearing the end of the 2nd month of marginal rainfall....various communities are talking about disciplined use, punishment for misuse, and financial fines if you abuse your local water situation.
Chemnitz (over in the east of Germany) came up in the news this morning. If you have a stream of water that flows by your property (say a stream or creek) and you lay a hose into it, and try to siphon off water for your garden or farm....it'll hype into a fine, and go to some hefty amounts.
If you go walk along or bike along the Rhine River now....you might notice dozens of hoses set down to the river, and siphoning off water for fields....trying to do some marginal use of irrigation to save some of their crop.
For some farmers in Germany....its potentially another loss if the drought extends into September (as it did last year).
Triggering some political crisis? Most German politicians are off on vacation for July and August, and it'd be early September before they could drag this into a major crisis. But it's hard to see how they'd resolve this.
Chemnitz (over in the east of Germany) came up in the news this morning. If you have a stream of water that flows by your property (say a stream or creek) and you lay a hose into it, and try to siphon off water for your garden or farm....it'll hype into a fine, and go to some hefty amounts.
If you go walk along or bike along the Rhine River now....you might notice dozens of hoses set down to the river, and siphoning off water for fields....trying to do some marginal use of irrigation to save some of their crop.
For some farmers in Germany....its potentially another loss if the drought extends into September (as it did last year).
Triggering some political crisis? Most German politicians are off on vacation for July and August, and it'd be early September before they could drag this into a major crisis. But it's hard to see how they'd resolve this.
Germans Happy over van der Leyen as Next EU President?
Well....no.
They went and did a public TV poll (ARD), and found that only about a third of Germans are enthusiastic about her getting the job, with almost sixty-percent saying it just wasn't that great of a deal.
Surprising? I suppose for Merkel and the VIP group of CDU politicians....it is a bit of a shocker that Germans felt that way.
They went and did a public TV poll (ARD), and found that only about a third of Germans are enthusiastic about her getting the job, with almost sixty-percent saying it just wasn't that great of a deal.
Surprising? I suppose for Merkel and the VIP group of CDU politicians....it is a bit of a shocker that Germans felt that way.
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Where Criminals Thrive
Normally, I kinda skip the public TV forum on ZDF on Wednesday nights because it's so late and it's mostly non-political. The show would be the Markus Lanz 'forum' on Channel Two (ZDF).
But I watched it, and Lanz had brought on the chief prosecutor of the city of Berlin....Ralph Knispel. So for about twenty-odd minutes, the guy throw out five or six bombshell comments that would anger most Germans.
Right now on the books of Berlin....he's got around 8,500 arrest warrants sitting there. In simple terms....he lacks the ability to go forward. The manpower simply isn't there.
Part of this involves pre-trial detention, which would situate some guy considered dangerous or likely to repeat the act again....in jail and waiting for the case to quickly come up. Well....they can't bring in the staff or judges to ensure a speedy trial so he gets released.
Then DNA got brought up. The city prosecutor has access to all the tools, but there simply isn't the manpower to accomplish the work.....so some cases are taking up to two years to fully develop.
The big quote of the interview? "They laugh at us."
What happened over the years? I would suggest three central factors:
1. Crime exploded, at least from the old West Germany/East Germany days, while the manpower never inched up.
2. When the government got worried over public perception....they hired lots of cops (10,000 new slots exist), but they never really wanted to go after the tail end.....the prosecutor staff and judges, and increase them.
3. Lack of fear over consequences now exists. As a career criminal, the odds simply are in your favor that you will never do serious jail time or worry much about convictions. A good lawyer, and the amount of crime....will protect you.
Germans seeing this interview and getting peeved? This is something that has been in the public view for the past five years, and the politicians really don't know how to handle this.
But I watched it, and Lanz had brought on the chief prosecutor of the city of Berlin....Ralph Knispel. So for about twenty-odd minutes, the guy throw out five or six bombshell comments that would anger most Germans.
Right now on the books of Berlin....he's got around 8,500 arrest warrants sitting there. In simple terms....he lacks the ability to go forward. The manpower simply isn't there.
Part of this involves pre-trial detention, which would situate some guy considered dangerous or likely to repeat the act again....in jail and waiting for the case to quickly come up. Well....they can't bring in the staff or judges to ensure a speedy trial so he gets released.
Then DNA got brought up. The city prosecutor has access to all the tools, but there simply isn't the manpower to accomplish the work.....so some cases are taking up to two years to fully develop.
The big quote of the interview? "They laugh at us."
What happened over the years? I would suggest three central factors:
1. Crime exploded, at least from the old West Germany/East Germany days, while the manpower never inched up.
2. When the government got worried over public perception....they hired lots of cops (10,000 new slots exist), but they never really wanted to go after the tail end.....the prosecutor staff and judges, and increase them.
3. Lack of fear over consequences now exists. As a career criminal, the odds simply are in your favor that you will never do serious jail time or worry much about convictions. A good lawyer, and the amount of crime....will protect you.
Germans seeing this interview and getting peeved? This is something that has been in the public view for the past five years, and the politicians really don't know how to handle this.
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