Category Archives: Hard Facts

Germany’s Green economy rocks

January 30, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It pitches, reels and staggers too.

Talk about having a gross domestic product.

Germany slashes growth outlook in ‘serious’ diagnosis of Europe’s largest economy – The German government on Wednesday slashed its gross domestic product forecast to just 0.3% growth in 2025.

This is down from a previous forecast of 1.1% growth, but broadly in line with estimates from bodies like the International Monetary Fund.

“The diagnosis is serious,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s Economy and Climate Minister, said during a press conference.

German of the day: Antrag

January 29, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means motion. As in proposal.

German immigration motion passes, breaking taboo on cooperation with AfD – Narrow passage of controversial CDU-CSU motion ends longstanding boycott on cooperating with far-right party.

The German parliament has narrowly passed a motion urging tough restrictions on immigration that was highly controversial because it was backed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.

The motion was brought by the conservative opposition CDU-CSU and backed by, among others, the AfD, breaking a longstanding taboo on cooperation with the anti-immigration party.

Elon is one smart cookie…

January 28, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

But this wasn’t exaclty rocket science.

Musk Says Germany Has ‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ – His comments to the hard-right Alternative for Germany party escalated efforts by the billionaire to influence the country’s election for chancellor next month.

‘Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt’ is one hell of an understatement. Guilt is an all-consuming obsession here.

I can only hold my breath for 30 seconds

January 26, 2025 By in Hard Facts, History, Home Cooking Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Tops.

This guy rocks.

120 days: German man sets world record for living under water – To celebrate, Rudiger Koch toasted with champagne and smoked a cigar before leaping into the Caribbean Sea.y rocks.

120 days: German man sets world record for living under water – To celebrate, Rudiger Koch toasted with champagne and smoked a cigar before leaping into the Caribbean Sea.

Nothing will change

January 23, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Germans will continue to vote as have; way too Green and way too Red.

And the next coalition government will be just as ineffective as the last one. For whatever mysterious reason, this is what the German electorate wants.

Germany’s likely next chancellor demands migration crackdown after knife attack – Germany’s main opposition leader demanded a sweeping overhaul of migration policy and permanent border controls on Thursday, a day after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested for a deadly knife attack targeting children weeks before federal elections.

Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become chancellor after the Feb. 23 vote, said the attack, which killed a two-year-old boy and an adult passerby, could not become the new normal, saying all “illegal immigrants” should be turned away at the border.

German of the day: Undenkbar

January 22, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means unthinkable.

Austria’s ‘firewall’ against the far right collapsed. Could the unthinkable happen in Germany too?

Could Germany go the way of Austria? Could the party of the far right be invited to form a government? What was previously deemed impossible, then revised down to improbable, is now possible. There are two scenarios in which this could happen…

Meanwhile… Two dead after knife attack in Aschaffenburg.

Germany gets off to a great start with Trump 2.0

January 19, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , Leave a comment

Its ambassador just caused “maximum disruption” – for Germany.

Where would Germany be without professional diplomats?

German ambassador warns of Trump plan to redefine constitutional order, document shows – Germany’s ambassador to the United States has warned that the incoming Trump administration will rob U.S. law enforcement and the media of their independence and hand big tech companies “co-governing power”, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters.

The briefing document, dated Jan. 14 and signed by Ambassador Andreas Michaelis, describes Donald Trump’s agenda for his second White House term as one of “maximum disruption” that will bring about “a redefinition of the constitutional order – maximum concentration of power with the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states.”

“Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, Big Tech will be given co-governing power,” it says.

Mess around with carnival witches and find out

January 18, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , Leave a comment

They don’t black mass around.

German politician is ‘attacked by a coven of carnival witches who beat him up and broke his ribs’ – German authorities have launched an investigation after a group of carnival witches were accused of beating up a local politican.

Alexander Kebeck, who is a mayoral candidate for the southern German town of Loßburg, claims he was left with broken ribs after an unprovoked assault in the Black Forest region.

The 43-year-old had been attending a local carnival in the area and was making his way home when he encountered the coven of ‘witches’.

Speaking with German tabloid Bild, Mr Kebeck claimed that the group of six witches ‘jumped from behind and hit me in the back, brutally knocking me to the ground’.

“Federal police have warned the public not to risk their lives on Germany’s trains”

January 17, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings Tags: , Leave a comment

Sound advice.

Passenger clings to German high-speed train and survives – A fare-dodging passenger on a German high-speed train ended up clinging to the outside when it pulled out of the station before he was ready to get on, police say.

The 40-year-old man had boarded the ICE train in Munich without a valid ticket and wanted to take a smoking break at the station in Ingolstadt.

But he lingered too long over his cigarette and the train doors closed, leaving him with the prospect of being stranded.

He then jumped on to a bracket between two carriages and held on to cables while the train powered on towards Nuremberg at up to 282 km/h (175mph), until federal police brought it to a halt about 30km away.

With what?

January 16, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Shoot them down with what?

Germany to shoot down drones near military sites – Germany’s cabinet has decided to authorise the army to shoot down suspicious drones seen near military sites or other critical infrastructure.

A statement from Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that, “especially since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, we have seen that drones are being used more and more frequently, which poses an increasing challenge for the police and their current technology”.

Russia is suspected of launching a “shadow war” against Western countries supporting Ukraine – a charge it denies.