They’re Not Wearing Masks

But some of them are wearing those red cardboard noses. Do they count?

The carnivals are being held despite the fact Germany is undergoing a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, setting a record Wednesday for the number of daily infections.

And while the vaccine requirement was strictly enforced, the streets of Cologne were filled with people, side by side, without masks.

Thursday’s celebrations began with a somewhat ominous sign – designated so-called prince for the Cologne carnival, Sven Oleff, had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, a breakthrough case since he is fully vaccinated. The festival committee said he showed no symptoms and was feeling well.

Why Is Germany So Ill-Prepared?

The same reason every other country out there is ill-prepared – with the possible exception of China.

Nobody knows what they’re doing. The Germans just don’t know what they’re doing particularly well.

Why can’t Germany deal with the new COVID crisis?

Germany is deep into its fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but yet again its authorities and politicians seem ill-prepared. Has no one learned from the mistakes?

It goes like this, if you haven’t noticed:

Laurel: Get vaccinated to protect others.
Hardy: OK. Got vaccinated.
Laurel: And keep wearing a mask to protect others.
Hardy: But I got vaccinated.
Laurel: The vaccinated are just as contagious as the unvaccinated.
Hardy: Then why did I get vaccinated?
Laurel: To protect others.

We Don’t Want Your Kind Here

The German “2G” rule means allowing only those vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to enter indoor areas.

This means that Germany has become a place where the vaccinated must be protected from the unvaccinated. It all makes sense these days somehow. And that’s the scary part.

Germany’s capital Berlin will from Monday tighten the screws on unvaccinated people by denying them access to indoor dining, bars, gyms and hairdressers in an effort to contain a coronavirus resurgence.

Under new rules in the city-state, only fully vaccinated people and those who can show proof of recovery from Covid-19 can enter leisure facilities and a list of other selected venues — a system known as “2G” in Germany.

15,000 Objects?

Is that all?

In the 1980s, he began collecting postcards, posters, leaflets, coins, newspapers, magazines, documents, stickers, figurines, photographs and films that testify to anti-Jewish sentiment with the express purpose of making them available to museums and archives as educational tools. He invested an estimated €1m in his collection, which includes an array of posters relating to the Dreyfus Affair, the armbands, diaries, passports and drawings of Jewish people imprisoned in concentration camps, and advertising material for the infamous antisemitic Nazi propaganda film Jud Süss (1940).

The collection “will help us and our visitors reach a deeper understanding of how widespread antisemitic views, images and hate propaganda were in Germany and other European countries from the middle of the 19th century,” says Raphael Gross, the director of the German Historical Museum.

Sky-High Electricity Bills?

In Germany? No way. Or way?

Hey, saving the planet costs money. Just ask the German Greens who have introduced the costly (and doomed) bottomeless pit of renewable energy, save-the-planet regulation and smorgasbord of taxes on greenhouse gas emissions.

Germany’s export-oriented economy used to be a reliable engine for pulling Europe out of slumps. Now, as the continent emerges from a pandemic torpor, Germany is lagging behind.

German manufacturers are struggling to produce cars and factory equipment because of parts and labor shortages. They face surging energy prices that are making sky-high electricity bills even higher. And they must invest hundreds of billions of dollars over coming years to meet new clean-energy standards.

How Did This Land In Der Spiegel?

But I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.*

The Dirty Truth About Clean Technologies – The poor South is being exploited so that the rich North can transition to environmental sustainability. Entire swaths of land are being destroyed to secure the resources needed to produce wind turbines and solar cells. Are there alternatives?

Yes, there are. One of them is called “nuclear energy.”

*The Germans say “even a blind chicken finds a kernel of corn once in a while.”

German Of The Day: Murmeltier

That means groundhog.

And when it comes to COVID19, every day feels like Groundhog Day in Germany.

Germany caught in COVID ‘Groundhog Day’ – In the classic film, a man trapped in a time loop is condemned to relive the same awful day. DW’s Sabine Kinkartz knows how he feels as Germany enters its second pandemic autumn.

German Of The Day: Impfpflicht

That means compulsory vaccination.

And that’s what most Germans want for Germany, believe it or not. Of course, most Germans have always wanted lots of things for Germany in the past that didn’t, well, work out quite so well. But still.

‘Grave concern’ over Covid in Europe as German cases soar – The World Health Organization expressed “grave concern” Thursday over the rising pace of coronavirus infections in Europe, as Germany registered its biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic…

Alarm bells were ringing especially in Germany, the European Union’s most populous country, where the number of new cases over the past 24 hours soared to almost 34,000 on Thursday — an all-time high, according to the Robert Koch Institute health agency.