Over the past three months, via German public TV, I've watched at least six different news pieces or 'clips', which had to do with self-optimizing.
Basically, someone would appear and advise you that you need to lessen your wardrobe, your house 'collection', or your style in life....and be part of this new generation.
Part of this is aimed at people and downsizing their clothing attire. Some of it is aimed at the kitchen and the various utensils that you normally keep. Some of this is to suggest that you could live in a fairly small and modest apartment. 'Waste-not, want-not'....would be the appropriate description of the trend.
It's an odd trend to start up and yank on the public's chain to modify their behavior and change.
Environmentally friendly? That's the amusing thing about this trend....it's generally supported by the pro-environmental folks.
Affecting commerce and the market? Well, here's the thing....if you convinced a quarter of German society to go in this direction, you could figure that some dramatic slow-downs will occur in the clothing and fashion markets of Germany over the next decade. You'd walk into the big shops and find the men's section about half the size as it is currently.
Success or failure? It's hard to say if German society will buy into this landscape. Maybe it's just a fad and will disappear in two years.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
A Party Story
This morning, I turned on German commercial news (N-TV) and there's this 30-second news piece.
What the cops report, out of NRW (the German state to the northwest of the country), in this town of roughly 50,000.....they had this fire-event that occurred.
What is said now is that the carbon monoxide alarm went off in this club. Couple of folks had already collapsed, and various folks getting weak or almost unconscious. Whole lot of ambulances are called up and at the front door.
Over 300 people in the club affected.
So here's the thing....this was a swinger's club. So all these thinly-dressed (some in bondage gear and weird costumes) men and women....running out of the club and emergency services trying to establish a 'safe-zone' for them.
The evening ruined? I'm guessing most kinda found their clothing and jackets, and quietly exited after the fire department gave a thumbs-up for the situation.
What the cops report, out of NRW (the German state to the northwest of the country), in this town of roughly 50,000.....they had this fire-event that occurred.
What is said now is that the carbon monoxide alarm went off in this club. Couple of folks had already collapsed, and various folks getting weak or almost unconscious. Whole lot of ambulances are called up and at the front door.
Over 300 people in the club affected.
So here's the thing....this was a swinger's club. So all these thinly-dressed (some in bondage gear and weird costumes) men and women....running out of the club and emergency services trying to establish a 'safe-zone' for them.
The evening ruined? I'm guessing most kinda found their clothing and jackets, and quietly exited after the fire department gave a thumbs-up for the situation.
Crime Story
This is one of those little odd German stories, where you just can't predict how it'll end.
As I've often essayed, Germany has this problem with ethnic crime gangs or 'clans'. There are various varieties existing (Serbian, Russian, Czech, Lebanese, Ukraine, Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, etc). So a while back, they had this guy who had a Lebanese passport and German visa. The police put all the pieces to his story together, and basically proved that he was a clan-boss....his own gang.
So the paperwork was stamped, and appeals were lodged, but it didn't matter. In the end, a German judge signed it off, and this guy was deported back to Lebanon.
In the last week or two, he's shown back up in Germany. It's not explained how he got back (that might be worth some time for an investigative journalist to explain). But he's done an interesting thing now.....he's shown up at the BamF office and requested asylum. He kinda says that his life in Lebanon is in jeopardy, and Germany needs to accept him back.
The BamF folks? I would take a guess that they've got special folks in charge of this, and thrown some lawyers at the details. If you accept the guy back, it's probably good odds that his old clan-boss days will be put right back into operation. The threat back in Lebanon? It might actually be true.
Germans will look at this and simply shake their head. Even if you do the right thing, and go through a fantastic amount of man-hours to achieve success....the program just isn't foolproof.
My solution? I'd tell him that he has to go and move to some highly ruralized area of Germany (a village less than 200 people), and live there for three years before a full-visa will be granted. No cellphone or computer connectivity....just a farm-house.
As I've often essayed, Germany has this problem with ethnic crime gangs or 'clans'. There are various varieties existing (Serbian, Russian, Czech, Lebanese, Ukraine, Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, etc). So a while back, they had this guy who had a Lebanese passport and German visa. The police put all the pieces to his story together, and basically proved that he was a clan-boss....his own gang.
So the paperwork was stamped, and appeals were lodged, but it didn't matter. In the end, a German judge signed it off, and this guy was deported back to Lebanon.
In the last week or two, he's shown back up in Germany. It's not explained how he got back (that might be worth some time for an investigative journalist to explain). But he's done an interesting thing now.....he's shown up at the BamF office and requested asylum. He kinda says that his life in Lebanon is in jeopardy, and Germany needs to accept him back.
The BamF folks? I would take a guess that they've got special folks in charge of this, and thrown some lawyers at the details. If you accept the guy back, it's probably good odds that his old clan-boss days will be put right back into operation. The threat back in Lebanon? It might actually be true.
Germans will look at this and simply shake their head. Even if you do the right thing, and go through a fantastic amount of man-hours to achieve success....the program just isn't foolproof.
My solution? I'd tell him that he has to go and move to some highly ruralized area of Germany (a village less than 200 people), and live there for three years before a full-visa will be granted. No cellphone or computer connectivity....just a farm-house.
A Numbers Story
The public TV news folks over at ARD (Channel One) did an interview with the chief of BamF (the German agency handling asylum and immigration). It's an interesting statistic that he puts out there.
For 2019 (up to early October)....they had roughly 110k asylum requests (from people arriving in Germany and wanting a visa to stay).
Here's the curious part of the story....roughly one-third of them had some type of reason or valid-nature for the asylum request. The other two-thirds? It didn't meet the common standards that the Germans have written down.
Typically, you have to come from a nation in a civil war situation, being prosecuted for your religion or politics, or under some extreme threat. If you come from a fairly safe country, and this is more of a economic 'escape' (meaning you want better living standards or a reliable job situation).....then the asylum idea doesn't work.
In that case, you'd float a different type of request, and display German language capability, job background, college situation, or the ability to support yourself in Germany. In this case, there's points involved, and a marginal score means no visa.
So how does 2019 relate to 2018? Right now....if you figure around 140,000 total requests for 2019....last year, it was a total of 160,000. So it's slightly less. You can't say the lesser number means anything....just that those folks took the risk of coming in or 'sneaking in', and this paperwork game by BamF was played out.
On the positive side, the rules (which have been in place for more than sixty years) are now being stressed and used on a daily basis. Just walking in and claiming asylum.....doesn't really mean anything.
There's always been two paths....one for the economic migrant, and one for the war refugee. If you walked in from any westernized nation with two years in some nursing program (a certificate of some type), and some basic German language score....there's tons of jobs open for you and BamF would likely approve your visa.
However, if you came up and your work for the past decade has been selling melons off the street in Tunisia for your uncle, and speak no German at all....your odds of getting entry via economic migrant status is pretty much around zero.
Most Germans, even those leaning toward the right-wing side, want a simple to explain visa program, which gets people with a dependable nature, a job-history, and unlikely to be on social welfare for more than a month or two.
The problem here is that a smaller number of Germans just want a front-door wide-open system....which doesn't really evaluate people, and if you got 10,000 'problem-children' arriving in one year, who are on social welfare for three years or more, and continually in trouble with the police....that's all fine with them.
Why the system is working at this point? Mostly because both the CDU and SPD parties are in a slight bit of panic....neither can afford to lose voter's trust at this point.
For 2019 (up to early October)....they had roughly 110k asylum requests (from people arriving in Germany and wanting a visa to stay).
Here's the curious part of the story....roughly one-third of them had some type of reason or valid-nature for the asylum request. The other two-thirds? It didn't meet the common standards that the Germans have written down.
Typically, you have to come from a nation in a civil war situation, being prosecuted for your religion or politics, or under some extreme threat. If you come from a fairly safe country, and this is more of a economic 'escape' (meaning you want better living standards or a reliable job situation).....then the asylum idea doesn't work.
In that case, you'd float a different type of request, and display German language capability, job background, college situation, or the ability to support yourself in Germany. In this case, there's points involved, and a marginal score means no visa.
So how does 2019 relate to 2018? Right now....if you figure around 140,000 total requests for 2019....last year, it was a total of 160,000. So it's slightly less. You can't say the lesser number means anything....just that those folks took the risk of coming in or 'sneaking in', and this paperwork game by BamF was played out.
On the positive side, the rules (which have been in place for more than sixty years) are now being stressed and used on a daily basis. Just walking in and claiming asylum.....doesn't really mean anything.
There's always been two paths....one for the economic migrant, and one for the war refugee. If you walked in from any westernized nation with two years in some nursing program (a certificate of some type), and some basic German language score....there's tons of jobs open for you and BamF would likely approve your visa.
However, if you came up and your work for the past decade has been selling melons off the street in Tunisia for your uncle, and speak no German at all....your odds of getting entry via economic migrant status is pretty much around zero.
Most Germans, even those leaning toward the right-wing side, want a simple to explain visa program, which gets people with a dependable nature, a job-history, and unlikely to be on social welfare for more than a month or two.
The problem here is that a smaller number of Germans just want a front-door wide-open system....which doesn't really evaluate people, and if you got 10,000 'problem-children' arriving in one year, who are on social welfare for three years or more, and continually in trouble with the police....that's all fine with them.
Why the system is working at this point? Mostly because both the CDU and SPD parties are in a slight bit of panic....neither can afford to lose voter's trust at this point.
Indian Story
The public and commercial German news sites all covered the big visit of Chancellor Merkel and her 'cabinet' to India this week. A series of agreements were signed and introductions were made.
So there's this one odd event that occurred, which had a 8-second video-clip attached to the news, but nothing much was said. Here was a military-style ceremony....dozens of India's 'best' in parade formation, with a military band in the landscape.
The Chancellor? Well....here she was.....sitting on a fairly royal-like chair and under a canopy with the Indian host (the PM).
My guess is that the ceremony was the typical 10 to 15 minute episode.
But what you come to ponder upon....with the recent events where the Chancellor's body went into a shaking mode when having to stand for an extended period of time.....this was developed to lessen the stress upon her.
Health issues continue? You just don't know. It would seem like that all parties know there's something wrong, and they will simply invent ways to avoid shaking problems in public.
The next national election? The fall of 2021....roughly 22 months away. My humble guess is that they will find ways to get her up to the election period, and quietly by 2022....then retired, Merkel will admit some health-related issue.
So there's this one odd event that occurred, which had a 8-second video-clip attached to the news, but nothing much was said. Here was a military-style ceremony....dozens of India's 'best' in parade formation, with a military band in the landscape.
The Chancellor? Well....here she was.....sitting on a fairly royal-like chair and under a canopy with the Indian host (the PM).
My guess is that the ceremony was the typical 10 to 15 minute episode.
But what you come to ponder upon....with the recent events where the Chancellor's body went into a shaking mode when having to stand for an extended period of time.....this was developed to lessen the stress upon her.
Health issues continue? You just don't know. It would seem like that all parties know there's something wrong, and they will simply invent ways to avoid shaking problems in public.
The next national election? The fall of 2021....roughly 22 months away. My humble guess is that they will find ways to get her up to the election period, and quietly by 2022....then retired, Merkel will admit some health-related issue.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Fake Doctor Story
This story originally came up about a year ago, and in the last week....had an update.
So it came to pass that some medical folks were unsure about the qualifications of this physician's assistant here in Hessen. A review of the gal's paperwork came up, and it was 'faked'.
Charges were drawn, and at the time....they felt that no one had been harmed by her fake doctor business.
Well....as N-TV updated the story yesterday, there's four deaths that are connected now to the handling of this medical situation.
Naturally, you'd ask....how would someone get the paperwork into the system, get hired, and avoid being figured out as a fake doctor....especially in of all places....Germany.
Part of the story that N-TV tells....there are seventeen different accreditation groups in Germany. This kinda makes things difficult. After this whole thing was figured out....there's a suggestion now that the Bundestag probably should go and create just one central accreditation control board. My guess is that by mid-summer 2020....the draft law will be created and passed.
As for the death count (four)? There's more investigation likely to come and there might be more added to this number.
Naturally, you might ask.....if they consolidate all this accreditation business....might there be dozen-odd fake doctors found around Germany? Well....no one can say much over this. It wouldn't surprise me if you see a couple of folks kinda retire and exit the doctor business over the next year....to avoid detection.
So it came to pass that some medical folks were unsure about the qualifications of this physician's assistant here in Hessen. A review of the gal's paperwork came up, and it was 'faked'.
Charges were drawn, and at the time....they felt that no one had been harmed by her fake doctor business.
Well....as N-TV updated the story yesterday, there's four deaths that are connected now to the handling of this medical situation.
Naturally, you'd ask....how would someone get the paperwork into the system, get hired, and avoid being figured out as a fake doctor....especially in of all places....Germany.
Part of the story that N-TV tells....there are seventeen different accreditation groups in Germany. This kinda makes things difficult. After this whole thing was figured out....there's a suggestion now that the Bundestag probably should go and create just one central accreditation control board. My guess is that by mid-summer 2020....the draft law will be created and passed.
As for the death count (four)? There's more investigation likely to come and there might be more added to this number.
Naturally, you might ask.....if they consolidate all this accreditation business....might there be dozen-odd fake doctors found around Germany? Well....no one can say much over this. It wouldn't surprise me if you see a couple of folks kinda retire and exit the doctor business over the next year....to avoid detection.
The Juvenile Story
Around a year ago (actually December 2018), there's this German guy (Egyptian parents, so he's first generation German in the family and grew up in the system) who got on a plane and flew to Egypt.
The guy (19 years old) is a local Hessen, from Giessen.
For some reason, Egypt authorities latched onto this guy and his travel plans....asking a lot of questions. No one says why his story fell apart, but his agenda was to go and meet up with ISIS recruiters. Egyptian authorities? Well....they won't support that type of situation, so they put him on a plane back to Germany.
Once here, they informed the Germans of the guy's intent. This opened up this whole legal package and this week....the guy ends up back in the news. Yeah, I know....it's almost 11 months since they sent him back and you'd think that the legal machine would be working a bit quicker.
HR (our Hessen public TV folks) reports most of the facts known on this case.
But here's the significance of the present situation....the Germans are more or less debating if this is a true juvenile situation or a adult situation. If you are 19 or less in Germany....no matter what stupid act you do.....you are treated as a juvenile. If you are 20, you are an adult. One goes to prison....the other to some general detention center.
So the court is just starting at the first step.....attempting to label this adult court or juvenile court. The odds here? Juvenile....I'd give it a 99-percent chance. Even if guilty (there are actually laws on the German books about leaving the country to participate in a civil war with ISIS), as a juvenile....he'd only do a year in some detention center, and get a dose of psychological counseling.
The fact that he grew up entirely in the German system, and wasn't a migrant or asylum-seeker? Well, some might point to this as troublesome, but there's likely some recruitment at work here, and you have to wonder who in his local community was hooking him up with the information to get pro-ISIS.
The guy (19 years old) is a local Hessen, from Giessen.
For some reason, Egypt authorities latched onto this guy and his travel plans....asking a lot of questions. No one says why his story fell apart, but his agenda was to go and meet up with ISIS recruiters. Egyptian authorities? Well....they won't support that type of situation, so they put him on a plane back to Germany.
Once here, they informed the Germans of the guy's intent. This opened up this whole legal package and this week....the guy ends up back in the news. Yeah, I know....it's almost 11 months since they sent him back and you'd think that the legal machine would be working a bit quicker.
HR (our Hessen public TV folks) reports most of the facts known on this case.
But here's the significance of the present situation....the Germans are more or less debating if this is a true juvenile situation or a adult situation. If you are 19 or less in Germany....no matter what stupid act you do.....you are treated as a juvenile. If you are 20, you are an adult. One goes to prison....the other to some general detention center.
So the court is just starting at the first step.....attempting to label this adult court or juvenile court. The odds here? Juvenile....I'd give it a 99-percent chance. Even if guilty (there are actually laws on the German books about leaving the country to participate in a civil war with ISIS), as a juvenile....he'd only do a year in some detention center, and get a dose of psychological counseling.
The fact that he grew up entirely in the German system, and wasn't a migrant or asylum-seeker? Well, some might point to this as troublesome, but there's likely some recruitment at work here, and you have to wonder who in his local community was hooking him up with the information to get pro-ISIS.
Thomas Cook Lives On
A month ago, with all this negative talk in Europe over the travel group Thomas Cook.....I felt for sure they were 'finished'. Well....someone came up and bought them.
The deal? There was already a co-owner to Thomas Cook....a Chinese company (Fosun).
They have now come up and bought the name of the company....twelve million Euro.
In addition, the Chinese company also acquired Casa Cook and Cook's Club hotels. The Casa hotels? These are all beach-front operations known for being a bit laid-back and semi-luxury.
Will Chinese tourists just miss this bankruptcy 'point'? I guess so. Germans and Brits? It'll likely be a cold day in hell before they sign up for a Cook tour or vacation.
It would be curious to ask what the Cook name was valued at in 2018, and this have been worth 500-million Euro.
Reporting on this? Via ARD (German public TV, Channel One).
The deal? There was already a co-owner to Thomas Cook....a Chinese company (Fosun).
They have now come up and bought the name of the company....twelve million Euro.
In addition, the Chinese company also acquired Casa Cook and Cook's Club hotels. The Casa hotels? These are all beach-front operations known for being a bit laid-back and semi-luxury.
Will Chinese tourists just miss this bankruptcy 'point'? I guess so. Germans and Brits? It'll likely be a cold day in hell before they sign up for a Cook tour or vacation.
It would be curious to ask what the Cook name was valued at in 2018, and this have been worth 500-million Euro.
Reporting on this? Via ARD (German public TV, Channel One).
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