Lost In Translation?

February 16, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hypocrisy Tags: America First, Defens, Defense Spending, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hypocrisy, MSC, Munich Security Conference, NATO, Security Leave a comment

Or lost before the translation even began?

”‘Great again’ but at the expense of neighbors and partners?” That’s an odd thing for a German president to criticize at a security conference.

Granted, Germany is anything but ‘great again’ (because that’s how Germans insist Germany must forever remain) but when it comes to security and promised NATO contributions, Germany has been living at the expense of its neighbors and partners for many, many years now.

Germany’s president kicked off the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday by taking a swipe at President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy approach.

In his opening remarks, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the United States would put its own interests first at the expense of allies.

“In this scenario, the security of one is the insecurity of others.”

What A Shocker

February 14, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Autobahn, Automobiles, Cars, German, Germans, Germany, Speed, Speed Limits Leave a comment

Not. Again. Yawn.

The latest proposal to introduce a general speed limit on German autobahns has not received the needed support from lawmakers.

I’ve never understood this. From time to time the Greens & Co. suggest that Germans reduce their speed on the autobahn. It’s a fine idea, I guess. In theory. But that would be like asking Americans to turn in their guns. It ain’t never going to happen.

Der Vorschlag des Umweltausschusses, die geplante Änderung der Straßenverkehrsordnung um eine Höchstgeschwindigkeit von 130 Kilometern pro Stunde zu ergänzen, fand am Freitag in Berlin wie erwartet keine Mehrheit in der Länderkammer.

It’s Only One In Five

February 13, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Academics, Antisemitism, Berlin, Free speech, German, Germans, Germany, Israel, Jews, Political correctness, Surveys Leave a comment

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation has conducted a survey of 1,106 German academics about free speech and discovered that 20% reject Israel’s existence.

Not all that surprising really, once you consider that a German government study in 2017 found 40% of the population infected with “contemporary antisemitism.” The university folks are just more enlightened, I guess.

“Based on Israel’s policies, I can understand people having something against the Jews.”

Eingeschränkte Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Deutschland? Professoren sehen sich durch Publikationsdruck, teilweise aber auch durch “Political Correctness” gehemmt.

More Friends Don’t Spy On Friends Stuff

February 12, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: BND, CIA, Crypto, Encryption, Espionage, Friends, German, Germans, Germany, Spies, Spying Leave a comment

Damn. Somebody needs to inform Angela Merkel immediately.

Germany doesn’t have many friends at all, I guess, because they’ve spied on just about everybody out there.

Report: US, Germany spied on countries for decades via Swiss encryption firm – Western intelligence acquired top secret information on global governments through their hidden control of an encryption firm, Crypto AG, according to media reports. Swiss authorities are investigating the allegations.

“The events under discussion started around 1945, and it is difficult to reconstruct them.”

German Of The Day: Versehentlich

February 11, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Gaffs, German, Germans, Germany, Iran, Israel, Language, Mistakes, Presidents Leave a comment

That means by accident. By accident, Mr. President? Really?

I don’t believe in accidents. I’ve seen too many of them.

In gaff, German president’s office slams Iran on Islamic Revolution anniversary – In what observers are calling an embarrassing error, the office of Germany’s president sent a message to Iran to mark the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, even though he wanted to send no message given the political situation there.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office “mistakenly” sent the telegram, which was prepared in advance in case the president chose to use it, Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.

Im vergangenen Jahr hatten die Glückwünsche Kritik unter anderem vom Präsidenten des Zentralrats der Juden, Josef Schuster, hervorgerufen. Der Iran droht Israel mit der Vernichtung.

German Of The Day: Rückgang

February 7, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: Economy, German, Germans, Germany, Industry, Language, Recession Leave a comment

That means decline.

You know. Like the Decline and Fall of the Merkel Empire?

Biggest German industry slump in a decade revives recession fears – German industrial output suffered its biggest fall in December since the recession-hit year of 2009, a shock drop highlighting the weakness in manufacturing that risks dragging Europe’s largest economy into contraction again.

Deutsche Industrieproduktion bricht ein – “Spielball der Weltkonjunktur.”

Hysteria Time

February 6, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hostility, Humility, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: AfD, CDU, FDP, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Nazis, Political Parties, SPD, Thuringia Leave a comment

It’s just what the doctor ordered for the morally outraged. More moral outrage. The Nazis are coming back to Germany again or something. And again and again and again. Yawn.

Thomas Kemmerich, a liberal democrat from the FDP, became Thuringia’s new Minister-President on Wednesday (5 February), thanks to support from the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the far-right AfD– a first in post-war Germany.

So?

The real issue is a sour grapes kind of thang… In the final round of voting, Kemmerich surprisingly edged out the incumbent Bodo Ramelow, from the leftist Die Linke party, who was planning to build a minority coalition with the Greens and the social democratic SPD.

The AfD didn’t so much vote the FDP guy in – a party that will have nothing to do with them, by the way – as vote the red-redder-green folks out. Now that’s outrageous. Scheiße happens, folks.

More outrage here: “A candidate from the democratic center has won!”

German Of The Day: Ehrenbürger

January 31, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, History, Honor, Language, Paul von Hindenburg Leave a comment

That means citizen of honor.

And now, after 87 years, Berlin’s red-redder-green city government (SPD, the Left Party, the Greens) has decided that Paul von Hindenburg can no longer carry that title.

Liberals everywhere are all the same. They are routinely shocked to discover that historical figures fail to meet their current level of enlightened leftist consciousness and must therefore ridicule their memory with pious outbursts of intoxicating guilt and self-righteous outrage. Otherwise they’re a nice bunch of folks, I’m sure.

Am 20. April 1933 wurde Paul von Hindenburg Ehrenbürger Berlins – am gleichen Tag wie Adolf Hitler. Nun wurde ihm die Ehrenbürgerschaft aberkannt. Er habe dazu beigetragen, die Demokratie in Deutschland zu zerstören.

33% More Women Directors?

January 29, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, High Art, Home Cooking Tags: Berlin Film Festival#, Berlinale, Directors, Film Festivals, Films, Movies, Quotas, Women Leave a comment

Fine with me. Just as long as they can ensure that 97% of the movies shown at the Berlinale remain as crappy as they’ve always been.

This morning’s Berlinale Competition line-up announcement featured 33% films (six of 18) with women directors, including one project, DAU. Natasha, which is co-directed by a man and a woman (Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel).

That’s a drop on last year’s percentage of 41%, when seven of 17 pics selected were from female filmmakers (the figure is seven of 16, 44%, if you don’t count Zhang Yimou’s One Second, which was pulled before it screened).

Still, the Berlin fest continues to compare favourably to the other major European festivals. In 2019, Venice featured just two women directors of the 21 films in its Competition (less than 10%), while Cannes selected four of 21 (19%).

Berlin Competition Lineup: Kelly Reichardt, Sally Potter, Abel Ferrara, Christian Petzold; Disney’s ‘Onward’ & Hillary Clinton Also Heading To Fest

It’s A Good Thing Germany Has Such Strict Gun Control Laws

January 27, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Gun control, Gun Control Legislation, Guns, Shootings Leave a comment

Otherwise the death toll at this shooting would have been a whole lot higher. I assume.

The shooter did have a gun license, after all.

6 dead, 2 injured after family shooting in Germany, police say – Police were called to the scene of the shooting, in a building near the town’s main railway station, shortly after midday Friday. Some victims were shot inside the train station, while others were shot in a nearby house, local police told ABC News.

The alleged gunman, a 26-year-old man who police said had a gun license, was arrested shortly after the shooting.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Habitudes