Category Archives: Habitudes

German Of The Day: Bürokratie

February 23, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

That means bureaucracy.

Warning: This is taken from yet another regularly occuring German article about how German bureaucracy is way out of control and somebody needs to finally do something about it but no one ever will of course because everybody here in Germany knows this is precisely the way the Germans like to have it.

Germany’s aging bureaucracy risks undermining ambitions – From immigration to the energy transition, the success of Germany’s biggest economic priorities relies on an increasingly older, paperbound bureaucracy getting its act together.

Save The Planet!

February 20, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Kill the trees!

Those windmill thingies are kind of like trees so deal with it, conservationists. You can’t have both. Boy, these Greens sure have come a long way, haven’t they?

Germany’s wind energy: Conservationists fear for forests – Germany is counting on wind energy to help replace fossil fuels. But critics say massive investment in the sector is ignoring a different environmental crisis.

By 2032, the government wants to have 2% of land area allocated for onshore wind power. This means installing between 1,000 and 1,500 new turbines a year, or four to five a day by 2030, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said.

Germany needs wind energy to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045, a target it’s currently in danger of missing, according to multiple studies. The country also missed its emissions reduction targets the last two years in a row, according to think tank Agora Energiewende.

“If Germany fails to meet its climate targets, we will not be able to demand that others meet theirs,” Germany’s Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said in February.

German Of The Day: Abschiebungen

February 19, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means deportations. German deportations. Deportations that don’t work, in other words. Migrants deported for criminal offences just turn around and come right back to Germany again. Why, how criminal or something. That they’re able to do so, I mean.

Thousands of deported migrants reenter Germany – Nearly 6,500 people deported from Germany sneaked back to the country over the past three years, police told Bild newspaper.

Citing federal police statistics, the newspaper said 6,495 foreigners had returned or tried to return over the past three years.

During that period, the number of returnees increased by 74%.

“These numbers reveal the enormous gaps in Interior Minister Nancy Faeser‘s security policy.”

German Of The Day: Flüchtlingschaos

February 17, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means refugee chaos. You know, as in “Germany threatened with new refugee chaos?”

Hey, what’s one million+ refugees and migrants (every year) for a country like Germany (80 million inhabitants – a considerable number of those also refugees)? Ain’t no big deal. Nancy Faeser (SPD) says she has everything under control.

Germany faces repeat of 2015 refugee crisis as 1mn Ukrainians seek safety – Figure exceeds number of migrants who arrived in the country in 2015-16.

Germany is facing a refugee crisis on an even greater scale than in 2015-16 when almost 1mn asylum-seekers surged into the country, officials said, as Ukrainians pour into Europe’s largest economy in search of safety.

“The problem is now bigger than it was at the peak of 2016,” said Reinhard Sager, head of the Association of German Counties, saying the huge number of Ukrainians had come on top of the many immigrants from other countries as well as those who arrived in 2015-16.

“The mood in the country threatens to tip over,” said Peter Beuth, interior minister of the western region of Hesse. He called on Berlin to do more to reduce the numbers of migrants by speeding up the deportation of failed asylum-seekers to their countries of origin.

What To Expect?

February 16, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, High Art Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The same pointed political messages, the same leftist championing of disturbing themes, the same provocative (yawn) political exhibitionism from woke virtue signaling political stooges everywhere. What to expect? The same procedure as every year, James.

Berlinale: What to expect at the 2023 Berlin film festival – A look at the highlights of the Berlinale, from the stars on the red carpet to the competition for the Golden and Silver Bears, and the festival’s focus on Ukraine and Iran...

The festival publishes detailed statistics related to gender diversity. Only six films in the competition are directed by women; but taken together, 38.7% of the current productions are directed by women, and 4% of them by non-binary filmmakers.

While there are not any African titles in the main competition, sections such as Panorama and Forum feature several works from the continent.

Germany Lecturing Others About Not Taking Their Defense Seriously

February 15, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

German of the day: Ein Esel schimpft den anderen Langohr. That means “a donkey scolds the other long-eared.”

In other words, the pot is calling the kettle black.

Germany chides allies for delays in delivering tanks to Ukraine – Defence minister expresses disbelief at slow progress by countries that pressed Berlin for Leopard decision.

Germany’s defence minister has voiced his frustration with European partners who spent months pressuring Berlin to supply tanks to Ukraine but have so far failed to deliver any of the heavy armour themselves.

The More Things Change…

February 13, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Winning an election in Germany doesn’t mean you’ve been elected.

That would be undemocratic. Here, in Berlin, the loser parties get back together to form the next coalition government the voters just rejected.

Berlin: Conservatives win vote but unclear who will rule – Voters returned to polling booths across the German capital after a botched 2021 election was declared invalid. More voters picked the center-right CDU than any other party, but its candidate may not get to be mayor.

Dysfunctional Elections?

February 12, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Oh brother. The Germans (Berliners) are copying US-Amerika again.

Only they got it all wrong, as usual. They’re actually trying to undue the damage done by rerunning the failed election. They’re actually trying to get an honest and fair result, in other words. Amateurs. They’ll never play in our league. When it comes to Banana Republicism, Americans will continue to lead the world.

Berlin holds court-ordered rerun of chaotic state election – The city of Berlin on Sunday is holding a court-ordered rerun of a chaotic 2021 state election that was marred by severe glitches at many polling stations that led to hours-long lines as some polling places ran out of ballot papers or received ones for the wrong district.

Berliners have long been frustrated by the German capital’s notoriously dysfunctional ways, which have been defying clichés of German efficiency for years and have made the city the laughing stock of the rest of the country.

European Greens Against Huge Investments In Green Technologies

February 8, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Because they’re not the right shade of Green. They’re not European Green, in other words.

They’re more of a Greenback shade of Green. And this makes them Green with envy. Or maybe it’s more like Green about the gills.

German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck was holding talks in Washington on Tuesday focused on the controversial US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which foresees huge investments in green technologies.

A large portion of the Inflation Reduction Act, somewhere in the region of $370 billion (roughly €350 billion at current exchange rates), is earmarked for spending and subsidies designed to support the green transition in the US.

For instance, it includes government incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles, but only if the vehicles and batteries were produced either in the US or a country with a trade deal with the US.

Norway

February 5, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapons sale of the week.

Because somebody has to admire them.

Norway to order 54 new army tanks from Germany – Norway will order 54 new German-made Leopard 2 tanks for its army from the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Group, and will get an option to buy a further 18 tanks at a later time, the government said on Friday.