Around my village (on the outskirts of Wiesbaden)....the cops got an early-call on New Year's Eve (the 31st).
Around 7 PM.....the call came to emergency services....for both an ambulance and police assistance.
From what the police say....some 17-year-old kid from the village was fairly looped up on some drug (probably something more than weed or hash), and displaying a fair amount of violent behavior.
The ambulance crew (with a doctor in attendance) were trying to get the kid to just be cooperative and he went into some violent episode.
So the cops stepped into the middle of this. What transpired then was this hitting and kicking routine by the kid (on the cop), and eventually even attempting to bite the cop. By the end of this, they'd put the kid on the ground and got him rigged up enough to be carried by the ambulance crew. The cop? Injured enough that he was finished for duty for that evening.
That's the general trend of things that you tend to notice now.....the list of drugs now available on German streets is reaching the point that you would have seen in the US a decade ago. You can find a dealer in the heart of Wiesbaden in five minutes.
The odds of charges on the kid? Unknown.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Berlin-City Chatter
Various news sources are giving a couple of lines over this Green Party report (out of Berlin-City).
From the Berlin-City political scene (the mini-state itself)....has a fairly active Green Party component. This week, they've kinda vowed to take the city to zero-emission status....in ten years.
Yes, no gas and no diesel cars in the heart of the city. Part of this scheme involves putting a city toll into effect, adding some type of additional fee on parking places, push to make some streets car-free, etc.
The odds of this occurring? I will make five observations.
First, private parking (owned by people or companies) won't be affected. Public parking spots....like on streets....would be what is affected.
Second, the idea of dumping all gas and diesel cars over the next decade into Berlin....probably won't occur. You might make a case of three or four 'zones' where you eliminate cars in general (say a three or four square block area).
Third, lets be blunt here....tourism is a huge player in Berlin now (13.5 million tourists per year). Hotels and businesses survive off this, and you really don't want to screw this up.
Fourth, the idea of making some streets car-free? I could see making state road #2 going east and west through Berlin being made into a four-kilometer car-free area, but then you'd double-up traffic on alternate streets, and make a lot of people furious at the public relations gimmick.
Fifth, Berlin is now used for a number of high-profile VIP events (the elite, the Hollywood crowd, and artsy people)....would they all travel by bus and subway? I just kinda doubt it.
Yeah, at the end of this statement, it all sounds nice but unbelievable....except the tax revenue people would love a toll to enter the 'heart' (the zone of Berlin). That Euro of entry-tax would pay for more statues, and landscaping efforts.
From the Berlin-City political scene (the mini-state itself)....has a fairly active Green Party component. This week, they've kinda vowed to take the city to zero-emission status....in ten years.
Yes, no gas and no diesel cars in the heart of the city. Part of this scheme involves putting a city toll into effect, adding some type of additional fee on parking places, push to make some streets car-free, etc.
The odds of this occurring? I will make five observations.
First, private parking (owned by people or companies) won't be affected. Public parking spots....like on streets....would be what is affected.
Second, the idea of dumping all gas and diesel cars over the next decade into Berlin....probably won't occur. You might make a case of three or four 'zones' where you eliminate cars in general (say a three or four square block area).
Third, lets be blunt here....tourism is a huge player in Berlin now (13.5 million tourists per year). Hotels and businesses survive off this, and you really don't want to screw this up.
Fourth, the idea of making some streets car-free? I could see making state road #2 going east and west through Berlin being made into a four-kilometer car-free area, but then you'd double-up traffic on alternate streets, and make a lot of people furious at the public relations gimmick.
Fifth, Berlin is now used for a number of high-profile VIP events (the elite, the Hollywood crowd, and artsy people)....would they all travel by bus and subway? I just kinda doubt it.
Yeah, at the end of this statement, it all sounds nice but unbelievable....except the tax revenue people would love a toll to enter the 'heart' (the zone of Berlin). That Euro of entry-tax would pay for more statues, and landscaping efforts.
Renting Story
I often essay over the growing problem in Germany with affordable apartments in major urban 'zones' (Frankfurt for example). So this is one of those stories....featured by HR (our local Hessen public TV network).
The city of Frankfurt's administrative branch got aggressive in 2019. They found various properties (341) which were approved as rental apartments, but basically being used as tourist B&B situations, or short-term thirty-day situations (illegal, if the structure was deemed for public apartment status).
Trying to use a apartment for sub-lease? Two years ago, Frankfurt made up some rules and basically said that you were limited to eight weeks of leasing out (for tourists or short-term guests)....to halt this practice, and get apartments back into major use.
The odds that there are another thousand apartments out there in this illegal status and hiding? That's the thing about it....Frankfurt's size would make it hard to look over occupancy and who the renters really are.
The city of Frankfurt's administrative branch got aggressive in 2019. They found various properties (341) which were approved as rental apartments, but basically being used as tourist B&B situations, or short-term thirty-day situations (illegal, if the structure was deemed for public apartment status).
Trying to use a apartment for sub-lease? Two years ago, Frankfurt made up some rules and basically said that you were limited to eight weeks of leasing out (for tourists or short-term guests)....to halt this practice, and get apartments back into major use.
The odds that there are another thousand apartments out there in this illegal status and hiding? That's the thing about it....Frankfurt's size would make it hard to look over occupancy and who the renters really are.
Blotter Story
If you go over the police 'blotter' for Wiesbaden (my local town) for the New Year's eve events.....there was a significant amount of fights, assaults, and police action required. Most all of this leads to heavy alcohol usage.
At some point around 3:40 AM....a couple of guys got into a discussion over on the north end of the town....near Kochbrunnenplatz. The Wiesbaden Aktuell journalists pick up the bulk of this story.
Two guys in their 30s....bump into a third guy (in his 20s). Words are uttered in this drunken stage, with bystanders just watching the argument go back and forth.
At some point, one of the older guys has had enough, and pulls out a pistol to threaten the younger guy. Then, all hell breaks loose as people grab ahold of this guy and halt a possible shooting.
Cops get called, and this is now a pretty messy legal problem for the older guy.
You could be talking about assault, threat, and weapons charges. Just on the gun in a weapon-free zone situation (as the mid-town now is)....there's an automatic fine of 10,000 Euro for that act alone.
This is one of the odd differences between Wiesbaden in the 1970s/1980s and today. You could be on some street and a dimwit lit up on booze or drugs suddenly shows up with a knife or gun....with your life suddenly in the balance.
At some point around 3:40 AM....a couple of guys got into a discussion over on the north end of the town....near Kochbrunnenplatz. The Wiesbaden Aktuell journalists pick up the bulk of this story.
Two guys in their 30s....bump into a third guy (in his 20s). Words are uttered in this drunken stage, with bystanders just watching the argument go back and forth.
At some point, one of the older guys has had enough, and pulls out a pistol to threaten the younger guy. Then, all hell breaks loose as people grab ahold of this guy and halt a possible shooting.
Cops get called, and this is now a pretty messy legal problem for the older guy.
You could be talking about assault, threat, and weapons charges. Just on the gun in a weapon-free zone situation (as the mid-town now is)....there's an automatic fine of 10,000 Euro for that act alone.
This is one of the odd differences between Wiesbaden in the 1970s/1980s and today. You could be on some street and a dimwit lit up on booze or drugs suddenly shows up with a knife or gun....with your life suddenly in the balance.
'Bribe' Money? For Wind-Generators?
It's a bit comical to lay out this story, but it's actually something going on in Germany today.
So for years, the folks planning wind-generators had mostly an open-door to planning, and in the placement of the wind-generators....yes, they might have put 'some' of the 29,844 wind generators in use....into some locations fairly close to the general public. No one is suggesting the number of 'bad-boy' generators, but if you drive around and gaze at placement....you might come to suggest that 10-percent (as a minimum) are too close to villages or cities.
All of this has lead to health issues (at least claimed) and anxiety over the placement issue. You now have communities who pressure the local mayor and city council to halt placement plans, and forbid wind-generators within proximity of the area.
So it came up over the past few days....the SPD Party is looking for a solution, and they've come to big ideas:
1. They want to offer people in these villages who are anti-wind-generators money (bribes) to accept placement, if their region is chosen for a wind-generator farm. No one says how much, and I seriously doubt that it's more than 40 Euro per month.
2. They want the permission to build or prevent building wind-generators.....to be taken away from local mayors/city councils.
You then lay these two situations out on the table, and most Germans just start laughing. The 'you-can't-be-serious' routine starts up.
You can imagine some farming village....fifty houses in this rural setting, and each house would be getting 40 Euro to just look the other way and pretend health issues aren't being created (yet to be factual, I might suggest). Where would the 2,000 Euro each month come from to pay off the village? Well....the wind-generators would have to have some extra tax on electrical power, which would put extra money into their pocket.....to pay this one single village. Everyone in Germany would be paying a 'whore-fee' in order for this bribe business to work.
But then you come to the whole purpose of a mayor and city council to work.....they are supposed to be your first line of defense over construction permits. And you'd take that authority away?
Here's the big deal....if the continual downward trend in wind-generators continue, and we go from 29,844 to around 20,000 by 2030.....where exactly will all this power come from, if the coal plants and nuke plants are shut down?
Yep, all of the original generators were built with time-limits designed into their placement, and as they get up to around 30 years old.....they need to have a new unit put up. That's not happening now....look at the statistical data for the past three years....a massive halt on new generators going up. It's mostly triggered by health worries and anti-wind-generator attitudes around Germany now.
Who drew up the two ideas for the SPD Party? Unknown. But these will probably hurt them in the long-run for potential votes in elections.
So for years, the folks planning wind-generators had mostly an open-door to planning, and in the placement of the wind-generators....yes, they might have put 'some' of the 29,844 wind generators in use....into some locations fairly close to the general public. No one is suggesting the number of 'bad-boy' generators, but if you drive around and gaze at placement....you might come to suggest that 10-percent (as a minimum) are too close to villages or cities.
All of this has lead to health issues (at least claimed) and anxiety over the placement issue. You now have communities who pressure the local mayor and city council to halt placement plans, and forbid wind-generators within proximity of the area.
So it came up over the past few days....the SPD Party is looking for a solution, and they've come to big ideas:
1. They want to offer people in these villages who are anti-wind-generators money (bribes) to accept placement, if their region is chosen for a wind-generator farm. No one says how much, and I seriously doubt that it's more than 40 Euro per month.
2. They want the permission to build or prevent building wind-generators.....to be taken away from local mayors/city councils.
You then lay these two situations out on the table, and most Germans just start laughing. The 'you-can't-be-serious' routine starts up.
You can imagine some farming village....fifty houses in this rural setting, and each house would be getting 40 Euro to just look the other way and pretend health issues aren't being created (yet to be factual, I might suggest). Where would the 2,000 Euro each month come from to pay off the village? Well....the wind-generators would have to have some extra tax on electrical power, which would put extra money into their pocket.....to pay this one single village. Everyone in Germany would be paying a 'whore-fee' in order for this bribe business to work.
But then you come to the whole purpose of a mayor and city council to work.....they are supposed to be your first line of defense over construction permits. And you'd take that authority away?
Here's the big deal....if the continual downward trend in wind-generators continue, and we go from 29,844 to around 20,000 by 2030.....where exactly will all this power come from, if the coal plants and nuke plants are shut down?
Yep, all of the original generators were built with time-limits designed into their placement, and as they get up to around 30 years old.....they need to have a new unit put up. That's not happening now....look at the statistical data for the past three years....a massive halt on new generators going up. It's mostly triggered by health worries and anti-wind-generator attitudes around Germany now.
Who drew up the two ideas for the SPD Party? Unknown. But these will probably hurt them in the long-run for potential votes in elections.
Assault Story Out of Leipzig
Two months ago, I wrote an essay piece on violence of left-wing radicalism in Germany....in Leipzig....in the southern part of town (Connewitz neighborhood).
Well....two nights ago, 31 December, all heck broke loose in the Connewitz area, with the police there as midnight came up.
End result was one policeman in riot gear....hurt in the extreme. MDR (the regional news public network) covers the bulk of the story.
The police chief? Accusations over the left-wing groups in the Connewitz neighborhood.
Likely charges coming up (attempted murder) if they can figure out the culprit who triggered harm? It's possible.
Here's the problem....this group in the heart of Connewitz....numbering near a thousand....was a mix of local people, innocents, and the far-left extremists. For whatever reason, the city authority choose not to enforce the law for decades, and allowed a bad behavior path to develop. Now when the public kinda perceives a major change being required....it puts the police into a difficult situation where violence is going to be response by the far-left radicals.
Well....two nights ago, 31 December, all heck broke loose in the Connewitz area, with the police there as midnight came up.
End result was one policeman in riot gear....hurt in the extreme. MDR (the regional news public network) covers the bulk of the story.
The police chief? Accusations over the left-wing groups in the Connewitz neighborhood.
Likely charges coming up (attempted murder) if they can figure out the culprit who triggered harm? It's possible.
Here's the problem....this group in the heart of Connewitz....numbering near a thousand....was a mix of local people, innocents, and the far-left extremists. For whatever reason, the city authority choose not to enforce the law for decades, and allowed a bad behavior path to develop. Now when the public kinda perceives a major change being required....it puts the police into a difficult situation where violence is going to be response by the far-left radicals.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Fireworks Story
Up in the northwest of Germany, between Duisburg and Dusseldorf, there's this town of Krefeld.....population of 225,000.
Last night (31st of December)....naturally is a celebration type period in Germany and a lot of fireworks were fired off.
As I have mentioned in the past week, there's a public agenda going on around Germany to curtail and forbid fireworks. Some urbanized areas have set up zones where it's forbidden, and there's a lot of hype over the idea of a national ban. I suspect if you asked around....less than a quarter of population are pro-banning fireworks presently.
So in Krefeld last night.....some rockets ended up landing either on the roof or around the facility of the local zoo's monkey-building.
Yep, the building burned to the ground....killing the various monkey-occupants.
The odds that this will accelerate a national ban on fireworks? I'd take a guess that some Greta-type crew will assemble the images of the burnt monkey-house and proceed onto some national law to forbid fireworks here in 2020 in Germany.
UPDATE: 2 Jan. Chinese lanterns at the heart of this fire, instead of fireworks? That's the discussion going on. The lanterns have been deemed a national problem and various groups have been trying to forbid them for the past decade.
Last night (31st of December)....naturally is a celebration type period in Germany and a lot of fireworks were fired off.
As I have mentioned in the past week, there's a public agenda going on around Germany to curtail and forbid fireworks. Some urbanized areas have set up zones where it's forbidden, and there's a lot of hype over the idea of a national ban. I suspect if you asked around....less than a quarter of population are pro-banning fireworks presently.
So in Krefeld last night.....some rockets ended up landing either on the roof or around the facility of the local zoo's monkey-building.
Yep, the building burned to the ground....killing the various monkey-occupants.
The odds that this will accelerate a national ban on fireworks? I'd take a guess that some Greta-type crew will assemble the images of the burnt monkey-house and proceed onto some national law to forbid fireworks here in 2020 in Germany.
UPDATE: 2 Jan. Chinese lanterns at the heart of this fire, instead of fireworks? That's the discussion going on. The lanterns have been deemed a national problem and various groups have been trying to forbid them for the past decade.
Bahn Story
There was a short interesting piece on ZDF news (public TV news, Channel Two) today. The hype? The Bahn folks (railway system) is promising that in 2020....the WiFi business is going to 'vastly' improve. Course, you had to really lean into the five-line story to catch the right phrase.....long-distance travelers....meaning ICE trains only.
What they laid out is that for a while, they've offered some basic WiFi service on their ICE trains and it was not exactly one standard system. I never figured out the game here.....maybe it was a test phase....maybe they just hired idiots to assemble bits and pieces of a system as it started out.
Then they inserted the long-awaited idea....that it'd all work on the trains, and within railway stations themselves.....one single WiFi network.
Presently, if you ride the long-distance trains in second-class....you get WiFi but it's throttled down....meaning that you can mostly forget about movies or radio stations, and doing basic email was the highlight. In first-class....it was mostly unlimited and worked as advertised. In stations presently.....there's around a hundred stations in Germany with WiFi offered up, but you get 30 minutes of it cost-free, and then they want you to pay for what comes after that.
This program of enhancement is supposed to sell Germans on the idea that the train system can be your 'friend'.
What they laid out is that for a while, they've offered some basic WiFi service on their ICE trains and it was not exactly one standard system. I never figured out the game here.....maybe it was a test phase....maybe they just hired idiots to assemble bits and pieces of a system as it started out.
Then they inserted the long-awaited idea....that it'd all work on the trains, and within railway stations themselves.....one single WiFi network.
Presently, if you ride the long-distance trains in second-class....you get WiFi but it's throttled down....meaning that you can mostly forget about movies or radio stations, and doing basic email was the highlight. In first-class....it was mostly unlimited and worked as advertised. In stations presently.....there's around a hundred stations in Germany with WiFi offered up, but you get 30 minutes of it cost-free, and then they want you to pay for what comes after that.
This program of enhancement is supposed to sell Germans on the idea that the train system can be your 'friend'.
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