How To Avoid Getting Scolded By A German?

June 24, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Books, Culture, eBooks, Europe, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Oddities, Scolding, Travel Leave a comment

That’s easy. Practice very aggressive social distancing. You know. Like, move to France?

Have you ever walked on the bicycle lane? Put a refundable bottle into a regular bin? Asked a bus driver how much the ride costs? In Germany, these beginners’ mistakes might earn you a good scold. Here’s how to avoid it…

“The point is not whether they are right or not, it’s that anyone here thinks they’re allowed to educate you.”

German Oddity 177. Germany is what you might call a correcting culture. It is not uncommon for perfect strangers to publically reprimand you here if you do not abide by what is considered the societal norm. Newcomers are usually shocked when discovering that others have no qualms about telling you that you’re doing something wrong, as if you were a small child. If they don’t tell you outright there will at least be a display of disapproving headshaking.

Where On Earth Did I Put That €1.9 Billion?

June 22, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Humility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Business, Corruption, Crime, Dishonesty, German, Germans, Germany, Industry, Wirecard Leave a comment

I didn’t leave it in my other wallet now, did I?

Remember when Germany used to have that squeaky-clean image? Yeah. Me neither. Now Wirecard has stepped up to the plate.

German payments firm Wirecard says missing €1.9bn may not exist – Company thought money was in two Asian banks but search hits dead end in Philippines.

“The management board of Wirecard assesses on the basis of further examination that there is a prevailing likelihood that the bank trust account balances in the amount of €1.9bn do not exist.”

Everybody’s Doing It These Days

June 21, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Hideology, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Antifa, BLM, German, Germans, Germany, Leftists, Looting, Riots, Rule of Law, Stuttgart Leave a comment

Another import from evil US-Amerika that one absolutely, positively has to have?

Germany: Riots and looting grip Stuttgart – The southwestern German city has seen a night of rioting and looting, with several police officers injured as hundreds of people took to the city center. “The situation is completely out of control,” the police said.

The media is still pretending not to know who is behind it although everybody in their right minds who aren’t on the left already know.

„Teile der linken Szene überschreiten hier gerade Linien, was wir für Stuttgart bisher so nicht gekannt haben.”

This Is The Real Problem

June 19, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Armies, Bundeswehr, Defense, Defense Spending, Donald Trump, EU, Eurozone, German, Germans, Germany, Military, NATO, Spending, Troops, Ursula von der Leyen Leave a comment

Not Donald Trump withdrawing American troops.

The Germans want a free ride and they’re offended at having finally been caught.

The Sorry State of Germany’s Armed Forces – Trump’s calls to withdraw U.S. troops from the country are impulsive, but Germany isn’t blameless.

The German armed forces are in a sorry state, and that’s not because Germany, more important to NATO’s efficacy as a collective defense pact than any other European member state, lacks the means to fix this problem. It does not.

Germany’s gross domestic product, valued at $4 trillion, ranks fourth in the world and first in Europe. The country is also Europe’s technological powerhouse. Indeed, in 2018, the World Economic Forum hailed it as the world’s leader in technological innovation.

And yet the German military remains riddled with problems. A damning 2019 report (available in an English-language summary) issued by the Bundestag’s then commissioner for the armed forces, Hans-Peter Bartels, summed up the problem.

PS: Please note here that the woman who ran the Bundeswehr for years and years and proved to be unable to fix it is now the woman EU technocrats (voters weren’t asked) have chosen to fix Europe.

German Of The Day: Auftragsmord

June 18, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Contract Killings, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Putin, Russia Leave a comment

That means a contract killing.

Germany Says Russian Officials Ordered Berlin Park Killing – Germany’s top prosecutor said Russian officials ordered the killing of a political opponent in a Berlin city park last summer, escalating tensions between the two countries.

“State entities within the central government of the Russian Federation gave the order to the accused to liquidate.”

Nobody Escapes From A German Jail

June 17, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humor Tags: Carlos Lehder Rivas, Cartels, Columbia, Drugs, German, Germans, Germany, Jail, Justice, Mafia, Medellín, Pablo Escobar, Prison 1 Comment

Because nobody wants to.

It’s like a nice hotel stay and they’ll kick you out long before your sentence is over anyway. We’ll be hearing from this guy soon again, I’m sure.

Medellín cartel co-founder transferred to Germany after prison sentence – Carlos Lehder Rivas ran Medellín cartel alongside Pablo Escobar that smuggled cocaine worth billions to the US in 1970s and 80s.

German Of The Day: Säumig

June 16, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humility, Hurt Feelings Tags: Armies, Defense, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Military, NATO, Spending, Troops Leave a comment

That means delinquent.

You know, as in Donald Trump accusing Germany of being “delinquent” in its payments to Nato, and saying he would stick with the plan unless Berlin changed its course? The truth hurts, Germany. “Why does Germany pay billions to Russia for energy and then we’re supposed to protect Germany from Russia? How is that supposed to work? It doesn’t.”

Trump confirms plan to cut troops in Germany – US President Donald Trump has confirmed plans to withdraw 9,500 American troops from bases in Germany.

„Warum zahlt Deutschland Russland Milliarden Dollar für Energie, und dann sollen wir Deutschland vor Russland schützen? Wie soll das funktionieren? Es funktioniert nicht.“

What’s An Increase Of 42% Among Friends?

June 15, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Brexit, Budgets, Debt, EU, Europe, Eurozone, German, Germans, Germany, Government Waste, Redistribution Leave a comment

Somebody just slammed Germany in the face with a brick. I mean a Brexit.

Germany to contribute 42% more to EU budget: report – The European Commission would like to see €13 billion more per year from Europe’s largest economy. EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, are meeting Friday to discuss the bloc’s future budget.

Germany currently contributes an average of €31 billion a year to the EU budget. The proposal for the new budget would raise that contribution to €44 billion — an increase of 42%.

If You’re Going To Pull Down Statues

June 12, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: BBC, Britain, Censorship, Comedy, England, Fawlty Towers, Free speech, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Political correctness, Racial Slurs, Racisim Leave a comment

You might as well pull down Fawlty Towers while you’re at it.

Nobody gets this. But nobody gets what’s going on anywhere else these days so, whatever.

An episode of sitcom Fawlty Towers has been taken off UKTV’s streaming service because it contains “racial slurs”.

The BBC-owned platform said it had made The Germans unavailable while it carries out a review.

In the 1975 episode, Basil Fawlty declares “don’t mention the war” around German guests, while the Major uses highly offensive language about the West Indies cricket team.

“One of the things I’ve learned in the last 180 years is that people have very different senses of humour.”

$1.5 Trillion?

June 11, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hysteria Tags: Consumers, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Debt, Government spending, Government Waste, Lobbies, Stimulus, Taxation, Taxpayers, Waste Leave a comment

There must be a better word than “stimulus” for that.

Wherever medication is given in huge and sudden doses, there’s a risk of unpleasant side effects. In Germany, and Europe generally, one of these may be a lasting shift in governing philosophy from market-friendly policies to state interventionism. That needn’t end in central planning. But even going part of the way would mean buying relief today at the price of misery tomorrow…

First, governments tend to confuse a company’s size with strength. Second, they’re usually worse than private investors at spotting winners, and always worse at pulling money out of losers. Third, they turn the economy into a big lobbying competition for businesses, which eventually hurts taxpayers and consumers.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Hard Facts