We Are The 92%!

May 28, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Activists, Anarchists, Berlin, Demonstrators, German, Germans, Germany, Leftists, Protesters, Radicals 2 Comments

Of leftist radicals still living at home.

What’s for dinner, Ma? Burning down banks and and other forms of capitalist exploitation can really work up a fella’s appetite.

92% of left-wing activists live with their parents and one in three is unemployed, study of Berlin protesters finds – The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fuelled offences in Berlin are young men who live with their parents, a new report found.

The figures, which were published in daily newspaper Bild revealed that 873 suspects were investigated by authorities between 2003 and 2013.

Of these 84 per cent were men, and 72 per cent were aged between 18 and 29.

92 Prozent der Linksradikalen wohnen noch bei Mutti.

The Natives Are Getting Restless

May 27, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Elections, EU, Europe, European elections, European Parliament, Experts, Fake News, Media, Media Bias 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 Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Facebook, German, Germans, Germany, Government Control, Media, Mind Control, Radio, Regulation, Social Media, State Control Leave a comment

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

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.”

What A Horrifying Thought

May 23, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hurt Feelings Tags: AfD, EU, EU-scepticism, European elections, European Parliament, Euroscepticism, France, Germany, Italy, Matteo Salvini, Netherlands 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.”

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.

Oh Great And Powerful Wahl-O-Mat…

May 21, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Elections, European elections, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties, Voting, Wahl-O-Mat 3 Comments

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

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 Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Austria, Data Privacy, Data Protection, FPÖ, German, Germans, Germany, Heinz-Christian Strache, Political Parties, Politicians Leave a comment

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

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 Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Hurt Feelings Tags: ESC 2019, Eurovision 2019, Germany, Sisters, Tel Aviv, UK 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.

Another Fifteen Years?

May 17, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Crime, Fake News, German, Germans, Germany, Justice, Law, Life Sentence, Punishment Leave a comment

Whoah. This is getting heavy.

German nurse who killed up to 100 patients faces another life sentence.

Thanks for the fake news there, CNN. There is no life sentence in Germany. They may call it that but that just means fifteen years. Just saying.

German prosecutors in the northwest city of Oldenburg are seeking a life sentence for Niels Hoegel, a former male nurse who is considered Germany’s deadliest postwar serial killer after allegedly killing as many as 100 patients…

Hoegel is accused of giving his victims various non-prescribed drugs, in an attempt to show off his resuscitation skills to colleagues and fight off boredom.

Well, Then He Shouldn’t Announce Tariffs, Right?

May 15, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: EU, Europe, Exports, Germany, Imports, Tariffs, Trade, USA Leave a comment

German auto sector could drop as much as 12% if Trump announces tariffs, analyst says.

Gee, I wonder if there is anything the Germans/Europeans could do to prevent that from happening? I dunno. How about like maybe lowering their tariffs? Just thinking out loud here, people.

Germany’s automotive sector could fall as much as 12% over “three bad trading days,” if President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on European car manufacturers, one analyst told CNBC.

Trump has until Friday midnight (Washington time) to decide whether to impose duties on car imports. This would likely hurt Germany, the EU’s traditional growth engine, given that it is one of the largest direct car exporters to the U.S.

“If indeed we get U.S. car tariffs on imports from the euro zone — not just their announcement, you could forget our economic forecasts completely. No chance of a sustained pick-up in activity throughout the second half as we expect.”

“Progress has been limited…”

May 14, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Consumers, Electricity, Energy, Energy Turnaround, German, Germans, Germany, Nuclear energy, Renewable energy Leave a comment

Oh, I dunno. Depends upon how you look at it.

In 2011, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the country was turning away from nuclear energy in favor of a renewable future. Since then, however, progress has been limited. Berlin has wasted billions of euros and resistance is mounting…

But there’s been plenty of change here, although I wouldn’t call it progress. Lots of people can’t afford to pay their power bills in Germany – the country with the highest energy costs for consumers in Europe. Could there possibly be a connection to the “energy turnaround” here?

More than 340,000 electricity customers across Germany have their power cut off each year for failing to pay bills. A new proposal from one political party aims to change this.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Habitudes