Category Archives: Hard Facts

Ukraine and Israel top the list!

January 3, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

When it comes to record German weapons export recipients.

€11.7 billion ($12.8 billion) in 2023. Wow. Not bad for a pacifist country.

German weapons exports reached record high in 2023 – Germany’s government authorized more arms exports in 2023 than ever before, according to preliminary figures disclosed to lawmakers last month.

The war in Ukraine partly fueled this uptick, with exports to Kyiv more than doubling compared to 2022. The record-breaking volume follows the government’s commitment to placing tougher restrictions on arms sales, a promise from the campaign trail.

“Based on fraudulent information?”

January 2, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

No way. Emission certificate fraud? For fraudulent emissions?

The Chinese would never do that.

German authority probes alleged Chinese emission certificate fraud – Listed project coordinates show only desert on Google Maps.

The German Emissions Trading Authority is looking into allegations of irregularities in an undisclosed upstream emission reduction project in China, the body told Nikkei Asia.

The move comes after allegations by German biofuel producers that upstream emission reduction (UER) certificates issued by the authority, known as DEHSt, to some international fossil fuel companies for their emission curtailment projects in China were based on fraudulent information.

“No details about their identities were released…”

January 1, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

My bet is they’re Seventh-Day Adventists. Or Buddhists, maybe.

German officials detain 3 more suspects in connection with a Cologne Cathedral attack threat – Three more people were detained Sunday in connection with a reported threat of an attack on the Cologne Cathedral over the holidays, German authorities said.

The detentions came only days after a 30-year-old Tajik man was detained in relation to an alleged plot to attack the world-famous cathedral by Islamic extremists in the western German city.

The suspects were detained in the western cities of Duisburg, Herne and Dueren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and their apartments were also searched there. No details about their identities were released.

Ring in the New Year

December 30, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Or maybe they should call it ring of fire in the New Year.

Are we having cultural enrichment yet?

German and Dutch authorities fear repeat of NYE firework violence – Fireworks are traditionally used to ring in the new year in Germany and the Netherlands, with New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day the only times they can be set off without permission.

But in recent years, celebrations have come under increased scrutiny.

Last year, dozens of police and firefighters were injured during riots in Berlin. Authorities said some were deliberately targeted with fireworks.

Other cities including Hamburg, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen, also saw violence.

German of the day: Wehrpflicht

December 29, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means conscription.

Germany mulls reintroduction of compulsory military service – The Bundeswehr is facing a dramatic shortage in personnel. Now Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rekindled the debate over reintroducing conscription.

At the end of October, the Bundeswehr said it counted 181,383 soldiers in its ranks — that’s still some distance from the target of 203,000 that the German military hopes to reach by 2025. This has given rise to concern in times of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has once again reminded Germans how quickly conflicts can erupt in Europe.

Since taking office at the beginning of 2023, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been thinking about ways to make the Bundeswehr more attractive as a career. He said he has received 65 concrete proposals from his ministry on recruitment and reforming training methods.

Even conscription, something Germany ended in 2011, is also up for debate. “There were reasons at the time to suspend compulsory military service. In retrospect, however, it was a mistake,” Pistorius told newspaper Die Welt earlier in December.

Your can hardly get any customers to visit your restaurant now?

December 28, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I know! We’ll increase the sales tax so nobody comes to your restaurant at all anymore.

No need to thank us. We’re from the government and we’re here to help.

German budget woes trigger disaster warnings for restaurants – Owners who oppose return to higher pre-pandemic VAT rate are dismissed as scaremongers by economists.

Kemal Üres, owner of a tapas bar in Hamburg, has spent the past year telling his social media followers that thousands of businesses like his will be destroyed by a planned tax increase.

The man who calls himself the “Gastroflüsterer”, or restaurant whisperer, is campaigning to make the pandemic-era cut in value added tax on restaurant meals permanent. Otherwise, the German government’s decision to raise VAT from the 7 per cent rate in place since 2020 back up to 19 per cent in January would lead to higher prices, job cuts and as many as 30,000 bankruptcies, he said.

What kind of man?

December 27, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

A Germ-man? A French-man?

Nope. A Tajik-man from Tajikistan near Afghanistan.

German police holding man in connection with a threat to Cologne Cathedral – German authorities say they have detained a man in connection with a reported threat to Cologne Cathedral over the holiday weekend.

Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, by the way, so this couldn’t have been religiously motivated.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Anschlag

December 24, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

German of the day: Anschlag. That means attack.

It’s the Islamist way to say Merry Christmas!

Security hiked at Cologne Cathedral for Christmas amid attack threat – German police said on Saturday they were heightening security at Cologne Cathedral following indications of an attack planned for New Year’s Eve and in the wake of government warnings in recent weeks about the rising threat of Islamist violence.

The police said in a statement they would use tracker dogs to check the cathedral after evening mass and then close it off. On Sunday, Christmas Eve, they would carry out a security check on all visitors, and recommended they get to services early.