Author Archives: Hermann Observer

The Natives Are Getting Restless

May 27, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Nice spin, though: Europeans showed belief in the EU project, experts claimed Monday, despite long-dominant centrist parties losing ground to euroskeptic and nationalist opponents in the EU elections.

So, by voting for euroskeptic and nationalist parties you are actually voting for the EU? Uh, OK.

Are we having fake news yet?

“I think the voter turnout shows that people really still care about the EU and what the European Union is doing. It shows a trend that, rather than weakening, it’s going to strengthen.”

More State Control Of Media In Germany?

May 26, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Like, than they already have? What could possibly go wrong?

Control

OK, it didn’t quite work out as planned back in the 1930s (or did it?), but today’s enlightened media experts are much more, you know, enlightened and stuff. And it is social media they’re talking about here, after all. So take a chill pill already. They’re from the government and they’re here to help.

A Lesson From 1930s Germany: Beware State Control of Social Media – Regulators should think carefully about the fallout from well-intentioned new rules and avoid the mistakes of the past.

The history of radio, and in particular how it was regulated in interwar Germany, is more relevant than ever: Five years ago, the question was whether we would regulate social media. Now the questions are how and when we will regulate them. As politicians and regulators in places as disparate as Berlin, Singapore, and Washington—even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—consider how best to do so, we should think carefully about the fallout from well-intentioned new rules and avoid the mistakes of the past.

“Our way of taking power and using it would have been inconceivable without the radio and the airplane.”

Let’s Celebrate

May 24, 2019 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Higher Education, History Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Having democracy shoved down our throats!

Constitution

You’ve come a long way, Germany. In those few short years (70) you have now become the Lehrmeister (schoolmaster) in all things democratic. Or at least you sure do come over that way. We couldn’t have done it without you. Or vice versa. Or whatever.

This month, a united democratic Germany marks the 70th anniversary of its constitution: the Grundgesetz, or Basic Law. The lengthy document—one version of the English text runs 135 printed pages—was composed under Allied supervision in 1948 and 1949. The final text was completed May 8, 1949; approved by the British, French, and U.S. occupying authorities on May 12, 1949; and entered into effect May 23, 1949. Its first article begins, “Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.”

“Why don’t you sing Deutschland uber alles?”

What A Horrifying Thought

May 23, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

I shudder to think of what could happen to Europe after this weekend’s big European Parliament elections. I mean, should the people actually choose to vote for parties that would, gulp, “elevate the sovereignty and economic interests of individual member-states over the collective interests of the EU.”

Horror

The horror.

Salvini, who’s framed himself the de facto leader of this coalition, has embraced the slogan “Towards a Common Sense Europe.” Besides Le Pen’s National Rally and Wilders’s Party for Freedom, other far-right parties have joined the cause, including Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and Austria’s (currently scandal plagued) Freedom Party. Broadly, these leaders want to curtail immigration. They may want to reorient the EU’s priorities on the global stage, too.

But, mostly, they want to elevate the sovereignty and economic interests of individual member-states over the collective interests of the EU.

“There are no extremists, racists, or fascists in this square. Here you won’t find the far-right, but the politics of good sense. The extremists are those who have governed Europe for the past 20 years.”

PS: Isn’t that picture they chose to use for the article brilliant? No suggestive images here, folks.

Organized Criminals Of Mohammed

May 22, 2019 By in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Or “Warriors of Mohammed,” if you prefer.

Warrior

Get your motors running or something. Here come Al-Salam-313.

German police launch raids on Iraqi organized crime gang – Heavily armed police have carried out a series of coordinated raids on the homes of members of the “Al-Salam-313” group. The targets are suspected of people smuggling as well as dealing in narcotics…

The gang members are part of the Shiite denomination who believe that the hidden Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi will return to earth with 313 companions. The term Mahdi means Redeemer, which therefore means that he is regarded as similar to a messiah in Islam.

“This is why they refer to themselves as Muhammad’s companions or warriors.”

Oh Great And Powerful Wahl-O-Mat…

May 21, 2019 By in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Tell me who to vote for. But computer says no!

Wahl

It’s odd. Germans seem to really love this goofy computer program that tells them how to vote. Now they’re upset because a German court has shut it down (temporarily?) because smaller parties feel they are at a great disadvantage here (which they are anyway because they are smaller parties). The “Vote-O-Mat” only allows the user to select up to eight parties for comparison purposes and this hurts the really tiny and the really wacko ones.

And this before the big European elections next week! OMG who’s going to tell me who to vote for now?

Das Gericht begründete den Schritt damit, dass man auf der Seite seine politischen Auffassungen nur mit dem Programm von bis zu acht Parteien abgleichen könne. Das sei eine Benachteiligung kleinerer und unbekannterer Parteien.

Data Privacy, Data Privacy Data Privacy…

May 20, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That’s how the mantra goes. Unless, of course, it’s about the data privacy of a BAD Austrian nationalist, right?

Srache

No outrage about this blatant breach of data protection here in Germany, at any rate. Normally they’d be out in the streets about something like this.

A German data protection agency has suggested German media outlets were wrong to publish video that exposed Heinz-Christian Strache’s allegedly corrupt intentions.

News agencies violated privacy rights by publishing a secretly filmed recording of the now-former vice-chancellor of Austria, an official German data protection agency claimed on Sunday.

Stefan Brink, who heads the Data Protection and Freedom of Information agency in the German region of Baden-Württemberg, believes the tape of Heinz-Christian Strache has far-reaching negative repercussions.

“If we cheat political opponents, violate their privacy and even commit criminal wrongdoing, we ultimately harm our political culture and us all.”

The Race For Last Place

May 19, 2019 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

The Germans did their damnedest, as usual.

But not even after receiving Null Punkte (zero points) from the audience were they able to come in at very last place at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Nice effort though, girls. And congratulations to the UK!

Allenfalls mit Außenseiterchancen fuhr das Duo S!sters aus Deutschland zum ESC nach Tel Aviv. Tatsächlich erhielt es bei der Publikumsabstimmung die Höchststrafe.