The French-German 'Incident'

Over Friday....this incident occurred in the Saar region of Germany (far western side).

For those who've never been in the region....Saarland is a bit unique on behavior as a German state.  There is a lot of French-feeling in the region.  It's mostly known for rural status and coal-mining.

So this 65 year-old French guy attempted to cross the border into Germany.  We have still some border 'ban' rules in affect.  It's NOT totally relaxed yet on crossing borders.

Who mans the border points for the Germans......the federal police.  Usually, you don't want to screw around with these guys.

The incident was video-taped so no one can argue about the event.

The French guy is crossing near the 'Goldener Bremm'.  Signs are laid out and basically say you need to halt and address your situation (your intent, your health, etc).  Now, no one is clear if this is only in German, or in English, or in French.  I'm assuming being at the French border, there's both a French and German sign.

He basically drove through the signs, and the guards.  Yep.  Straight on, he proceeded....never stopping.

He did stop eventually at some side street...next to a kiosk where you'd play lotto. German cops approach and talking takes place.  Basically.....he's there to play lotto and doesn't want to f**k around with rules.  I can admire the old French guy in some ways.

The German federal cops then dump on him.....the order is given....refusal to allow him to enter the country.  He has to exit Germany now.

The French guy basically says no....not until he's bought his lotto tickets.  German cops then proceed to 'handle' him, and a fight breaks out.  One old French guy, and a couple of German cops.

At some point, the old French guy is pushed enough and falls to the ground. Video apparently shows this.

At this point (today) the French government is asking questions about the handling of their citizen, and the German government is having to respond.  The Germans will say they were doing their duty, and were not 'thugs'.  The French might accept this or say something harsh.

Actions by Antifa?  No one says much yet, but it just seems to me if you had a decent Antifa group in France.....they'd be all over the German cops at the border over the next week.

Here's the comical thing about this.  The French guy could have parked on the French side....walked around through some park and through some wooded area in 15 to 20 minutes, and avoided the border point entirely....bought his lotto tickets, and never met any threat at all.  The border is geared toward car entry, not forest entry.

But all of this begs the question....don't they play lotto in France?  Yes, they do.  If you win, it's a tax-free 'gift' of money....same as in Germany.  So this was all a wasted effort or fake confrontation?  Well....it begs questions.  Maybe the old guy likes screwing with German cops, or feels adventitious in doing stuff like this.

And all of this leads back to the ban rules?  Yes, that's the other amusing thing....with riots involving tens of thousands over the past weekend....German cops still enforce border control.  A lot of this story just doesn't make sense.

Coronavirus and the Riots

The 'Black Lives Matter' and Antifa riots in Germany from yesterday?  What the morning news says....93 protesters have been arrested (from Saturday).  A couple of dozen from Berlin, and the rest from major urbanized areas.

Here's the thing, which ought to make you laugh.  There are STILL various Coronavirus 'bans' and regulations in place over hygiene throughout all of Germany.  The 1.5-meter rule still exists.  All these strangers in close proximity, and yelling....spewing virus bugs into the air.

More Corona coming?  Well, there is a discussion today by the virus-experts, that something will occur in the next ten days.  Believable?  That's the problem....you just don't know.  It would be shocking to wake up in two weeks, and have the ARD nightly news guy say that 15-odd thousand folks have suddenly come down with the virus in some massive surge, and then the journalists try to chat around the riots and suggest it's just the second wave instead.  Everyone would have a big laugh and realize how bogus this chatter had become.

More riots to come?  Oh, I would suggest a 99-percent chance on that over the next month.

Promises Story

A lot of Germans now see international travel in a harshly negative way.  If you were to head off to New Zealand or Australia....there's those odds of being stuck there.  Thousands of Germans leaned the hard way.

It came up this morning, via a Lufthansa public announcement (Frankfurt's Allgemeine Sonntagzeitung)....that they wanted all Germans to feel happy and sure about travel in the future....so they have this 'return flight guarantee'.

The wording is: if you are denied entry because of a personal body temperature, quarantine situation, the virus goes into another stage, etc.....there will be this guaranteed flight home.

Here's the thing.  Most Germans are eyeballing all the rough treatment that German tourists had in March and April, some by Lufthansa....some by other airlines, and frankly....they see this Lufthansa promise as BU**SH*T. 

This announcement will be handed out to travel agents and they will make an effort to make it sound truthful and honest.  But Germans will remember the negativity and hostility of people as they attempted to return home and were denied. 

9,500 US Troops Leaving Germany?

Yes.  Some will be sent into Poland, and some filtered to a few other locations around Europe, with the majority going back to the US.

What's left?  25,000 roughly. 

Shocker for the Chancellor?  I doubt it.  I think she speculated this would occur and it's part of the new 'era'. 

Lets face the matter....Russia isn't a threat, and the general cost of this defense 'pattern' doesn't make a lot of sense. 

If there was a shocker?  The schedule spoken about is that all 9,500 would exit by late September of this year.   Locations?  One note brought up a F-16 squadron, which there would indicate Spangdahem being part of this, but it wouldn't close because there would still be two squadrons there.  The Army units are not mentioned, and I kinda doubt that it'll be the Wiesbaden area. 

The odds that if Trump wins in November....that the remainder would leave by 2024?  That's probably worth a discussion, but lets just wait and see. 

Corona and the Railway System

N-TV brought up an interesting topic this morning....the Bahn folks (the national railway of Germany) are under serious pressure to reach a normal state of operations.  Part of the worry from the public is over hygiene and the threat of getting the Coronavirus.

Nationally, the Bahn folks have hired a minimum of 2,000 employees to sanitize and clear stations and trains.  All of this amounts to a higher cost level for the Bahn to operate.

What the Bahn says is that on the long-distance trains (the ICE)....they have several hundred additional folks who are 'on-the-go' type cleaners within the interior of the trains.  They admit that it'll get up to six-hundred folks shortly.

The question is....can you convince the German public to go and travel by train again.  For those who live 30 to 50 km away and need the train-access, there is no choice.  But for those who used to travel on weekends or take an occasional sight-seeing trip....the question now arises over the risk of the virus.

How long will the increased hygiene effort continue?  Unknown.  Cost factor for increased tickets in the next year?  I'd probably suggest some 2-percent rise is going to occur. 

Denmark, Cops, and Socialism

I sat and read through a short commentary by an American who wanted to suggest that fewer police would be the cure for ailments in America.  His example to make the statement?  Denmark, where they have fewer police officers per capital than the US, but with less crime and less violence.  In simple terms, socialism would resolve our problems.

I sat over the idea for a while.

I've been to Denmark three times in my life.....two weeks on each trip....for beach-related vacations.  I should note that I was very impressed with the beach 'cabin' deal, the simple landscape, clean beaches, friendly people, and the society.  I should also note that I wasn't that impressed with Danish food (the most bland food of the world), or the serious taxation (on just about everything). 

So to the topic of cops, Denmark and socialism curing the ills of America. 

Well....here's the thing.  Danes have a general expectation on respect.  It's stressed in school, and they put internal pressure on you to not embarrass yourself or your family. 

Dane cops?  They usually travel in pairs on patrol (like in Germany).  They spend a fair amount of time in the police academy, and are given serious time at handling conflict with argumentative people. 

Drugs?  You find it mostly around Copenhagen.  The rest of the country is mostly about marijuana. 

Back in 2017, they had a total of 54 murders in the entire country.  In 2013, it was only 41 total murders. Violent tendencies from extreme drugs?  They don't have it.

Socialism doing the job?  I'd argue that Danes are fairly uncomplicated people and not engaged in crime efforts.  Maybe around Copenhagen, you might have a few gangs, but in the rest of the country?  No way. 

To this whole discussion....if I took you to rural Iowa, and showed you the limited manpower sheets for some of these communities....it'd compare in ways to Denmark.  They don't have the gangs, the violence, or the drugs. 

But all of this discussion comes mostly from the idea 'think' they know something but have never really been there to discuss the whole landscape.  I see that a lot with American journalists, and college kids.  They think they know something.....when they don't. 

The Two Pluses in the Stimulus for E-Cars?

Two items were in the agreed stimulus package signed off by the coalition folks under Chancellor Merkel.

1.  The 'bonus' for an E-car purchase.....went to 6,000 Euro (must be purchased by the end of 2021) and limited for the listed price up to 40,000 Euro.  (updated: 5 June....amount will max at 9,000 Euro)

Germans fired up to buy E-cars?  I'm not going to say much here.  If you bring this up in conversation....the majority of Germans aren't that hyped up or feeling any enthusiasm for the battery cars.

I did the test-drive with the Audi E-car SUV last year, and frankly.....while it's a nice vehicle.....when you do all the research on the hundred-odd issues, you feel more of a burden with the E-Cars, than a plus-up.

One thing you notice....a hefty gas/diesel tax exists today, and you kinda notice it each time you pull into a station to refuel.  If a quarter of the nation flipped over....the tax revenue bucket would be a problem.  So you wonder....just where and how will they make up for the lost tax revenue, and how screwed will you be with the newly invented 'game'.  I thought long and hard about putting the solar panels on the roof, and did the number-crunching.  I would beat them at that game.....so the only answer on tax revenue is that they'd assess your mileage each year (during an inspection) and tax you on pure mileage (my humble guess).

2.  2.5-billion Euro is going into the pot for a bigger charging network around Germany, and to pay for more battery research.

Previous efforts have centered on money given out to states, and towns would place a charging station, with grants given for each charger or the station itself.  It's not to say if the current stations are being used or even placed in a decent location.  No one talks much about this success or failure.

A station in my village?  No. There are two stations over in the next village.  And beyond that.....there's a village which has a grocery store operation, with around four chargers.

The big game here is that you need to have a charger in your carport or garage, and it needs to be hooked up to your solar panels to save on cost.  One negative in this game however....is that in the months of November through March....there's just not enough sunlight to run both your house, and your charger for the car.

I should add at this point.....Germany is ONE of these most expensive countries in the EU, for electrical cost.  A number of folks who get into researching the E-cars....come to this one central 'truth', and just start laughing.

Hydrogen development?  It continues on.  I'm still of the opinion it's ten years away.  But when it finally comes....the E-car enthusiasm will die out.

How Quick Were the Brownshirts Disposed After the September 1930 Election?

It is an interesting discussion.

Going throuth the 1920s....the Brownshirts were a big element of success for the Nazi Party.  They led marches through towns and communities.  They intimidated the general public.  They were thugs on parade.

But then comes the 14 September 1930 election.  The Nazi Party is no longer bonded into a secondary group....they are on their own, and get near 18-percent of the vote.  A lot of this success?  It goes to the Brownshirts.

So we go through the July and November elections of 1932....each bringing Hitler nearer to complete authority.  March and November elections in 1933?  Same story.

At the end of 1933, the Brownshirts are figured to have near 3-million members across Germany.  Their plan (not Hitlers) is to merge the German Army in with them, and the Brownshirts would be this new model of militarism.  In essence, they'd manage the military system. 

Military officers at that point?  Very frustrated at the idea of professional military organizations being dragged into some combination 'pit' of Brownshirts.  On top of that, several big players of the Nazi movement are now worried about the leadership of the Brownshirts....fearing they might oust Hitler. 

So in the spring of 1934....a lot of secretive chatter starts up....to end the Brownshirts.  Around the last week of June (1934), the decision is made.  The 'Night of the Longknives' will occur.  The vast leadership group of the Brownshirts will be ended. 

Today, it's figured that roughly 200 Brownshirt 'bosses' were executed around 30 June 1934.  A lot of Brownshirts were shocked at the action taken, and the movement basically died off  in the weeks and months after this day. 

If the Brownshirts had figured out their threat?  There's no doubt that they would have taken action, and likely terminated Hitler.  But at no point did they gather intelligence or figure out the actions coming at them.  Their leadership was walking step-in-step with Hitler....with glory days ahead. 

This period of demise?  You can start on 14 September 1930, and say from that day to 30 June 1934....they were heading toward an end-point.  All in four years.

This is the thing about thugs in support of a political agenda....you will reach a point of success, and then reach a point where your help isn't appreciated anymore.  Then you get disposed of, and you just stand there wondering....what went wrong.