Your Flight From 2012 Is Now Ready For Boarding

June 1, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, High Art, Home Cooking, Humility, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Airports, BER, BER Berlin Brandenburg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Construction Projects, Germans, Germany, Jokes, Tegel Leave a comment

What do you mean? Berlin’s party joke phantom airport may be opening after all?

Too bad I didn’t keep our plane tickets from 2012 as souvenirs. They showed us departing from Los Angeles (LAX) and arriving at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), which was just about to open. But the launch, already delayed the previous year, was again called off at the last minute. So we landed instead at the charming but small Tegel airport (TXL) that dates back to the early Cold War…

To pessimists, BER symbolizes Germany’s bad developments. Its highly publicized bureaucratic and engineering fiascoes have dented the country’s former reputation — not always entirely flattering — of being relentlessly meticulous and punctual. The subtext is that Germany, whether it’s building airports or algorithms, is increasingly leaving economic dynamism to others, especially China.

To optimists, this too is part of Germany’s long historical arc to “normality.” Germans today are more relaxed about their national identity and place in the world than they’ve ever been. That explains why they’ve also been nonchalant about BER’s travails. The truth is, many Germans have secretly been savoring the airport headlines as a font of gossip. Many an awkward dinner party has been saved by boozy debates about whether humans would set foot on Mars before disembarking at BER, or whether it would be more cost-effective to rebuild the capital near a working airport.

Ha, Ha, Ha

May 31, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Angela Merkel, Corona, Debt, Economic Stimulus, EU, EU Presidency, Europe, Eurozone, German, Germans, Germany, Language, MAGA, Slogans Leave a comment

A new slogan will make “Europe strong again?” Gemeinsam. Europa wieder stark machen.

Back off, Trump. Germany wants to Make Europe Strong Again. Berlin’s EU presidency motto has echoes of MAGA.

Slogans, as we all know, are merely slogans. The track record here is what you have to go by and it ain’t pretty. The Eurozone hasn’t even begun to deal with Brexit while Angela Merkel signals submission to France to accept a Schuldenunion (a debt union – paying the debt for Southern European countries – yes, they have a North and a South problem here too) when all of a sudden this little thing we call Corona has prompted Brussels to suggest an $826 billion economic stimulus plan (even more debt) for a “union” of countries that can’t even protect their borders and that only appears to be unified when it comes to supporting anything that weakens the United States (see China) and on and on we go but together they will make Europe strong. Again. Again?

Make Europe Strong Again. MESA? All I see is a MESA problems that nobody is prepared to fix.

Must Be The Same Company That Built Berlin’s Airport

May 29, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hysteria Tags: Construction, Construction Projects, German, Germans, Germany, Pyramids, Time, Time Pyramids Leave a comment

That took (is taking?) absolutely forever. But sheesh. To take the next 1,000 years to build a stupid time pyramid? Talk about your long term planning.

Germans Are Building a Time Pyramid Over the Next 1,000 Years – A locally crowdfunded “time pyramid” in southern Germany will be completed brick by brick over the next 1,000 years. The project is an interesting symbol of several intersecting ideas. Can you guarantee future generations will comply with very long-term plans? How will the large concrete bricks hold up to a millennium of weather and beyond?

German Of The Day: Warnhinweisen

May 27, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: 1st Amendment, Censorship, Donald Trump, Fake News, Free speech, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Language, Media, Social Media, Twitter Leave a comment

That means warning signs. You know, like the kind Twitter now places on tweets made by the President of the United States?

They don’t place any warning signs on anything German mainstream media puts out, unfortunately. They are still allowed to “disseminate any kind of nonsense with impunity.” Maybe that will come to an end one day too. Ha, ha, ha. Just joking. Maybe when monkeys start flying out of my butt. We all no that ain’t never gonna happen.

Up to now the US President could disseminate any kind of nonsense with impunity. For instance that postal voting and electoral fraud are the same thing. Those days might now be over.

Bislang konnte der US-Präsident auf Twitter ungestraft jeden Unsinn verbreiten. Zum Beispiel, dass Briefwahl und Wahlbetrug praktisch dasselbe seien. Diese Zeiten könnten jetzt vorbei sein.

Austria Doing Germany’s Job Again

May 24, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humility, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Austria, Budgets, Corona, Debt, EU, Eurozone, France, Germany, Kurz, Macron, Merkel, Rescue Funds, Spending, Waste Leave a comment

Frugality? Refusing to pay other countries’ debts? That was “old Germany.”

Now the Germans need a country like Austria to take care of the problem for them – just like the Austrians took care of Merkel’s migrant madness by closing their borders way back when.

‘Frugal four’ nations counter Franco-German EU initiative – Four EU countries have teamed up, rejecting Macron and Merkel’s persistent lobbying for a €500 billion rescue fund. Instead, they have their own scheme on how to save Europe from economic fallout amid the pandemic…

The four countries also indicated that they will neither agree to a mutualization of debt nor an increase in the EU budget. Their draft proposal was seen by the German Press Agency (DPA) on Saturday.

“Our objective is to provide temporary, dedicated funding through the EU budgetû and to offer favorable loans to those who have been most severely affected by the crisis.”

German Of The Day: Übersterblichkeit

May 22, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hype, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: CLO, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Mortality Rates, Numbers, Reality, Statistics Leave a comment

That means higher mortality rate.

But you need to read in which context it is being used here to get the whole message: Nur geringe Übersterblichkeit – Todesfälle im April knapp über dem Schnitt. That is: Only a slightly higher mortality rate – The fatalities in April were just slightly above average.

My, that is odd, isn’t it? Wasn’t April the big Corona month in Germany? Just like everywhere else? And the country’s mortality rate was only slightly higher than usual? There must be a mistake here somewhere. Or were we all mislead to expect something else? Certainly not intentionally. Or was it just ineptitude? Numbers, black on white like that, can be very mysterious sometimes. Especially when they don’t fit your story line.

Im April sterben zwar mehr Menschen in Deutschland als im Durchschnitt – der Anstieg beträgt aber nur wenige Prozent.

German Of The Day: Wiederaufbaufonds

May 19, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Corona, Coronabonds, Debt, EU, Eurobonds, European Union, Eurozone, France, Germany, Government Waste, Language, Macron, Merkel, Pandemic, Spending Leave a comment

That means reconstruction bonds. Or Eurobonds/Coronabonds light. Or Germany breaking a taboo and knuckling under to France to share debt with other EU countries, if you prefer.

It’s hard to keep up with them. Politicians just can’t burn money fast enough these days.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel broke with her country’s longstanding opposition to raising money together with other – often poorer – EU countries. But the proposal made with French President Emmanuel Macron is limited in scale and duration, which could help her sell it to skeptics back home.

It consists of 500 billion euros ($550 billion) in loans and grants to help countries through the recession, and is viewed by some as a step toward stronger EU ties as the 27-country union faces challenges not just from the virus crisis, but from populist forces in member countries Hungary and Poland who want to loosen the bloc’s ties.

Werteunion ruft zu Widerstand gegen Merkel auf.

German Nuclear Power Plant Explodes

May 14, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: Blasts, Corona, Coronavirus, Demolitions, Energy, Explosions, German, Germans, Germany, Nuclear power, Philippsburg, Secrets 2 Comments

Just kidding. Hardy, har, har. Everybody knows Germans don’t have nuclear power plants anymore. Well, not many. One less now for sure.

Former German nuke plant towers demolished in morning blasts – The two cooling towers of a former nuclear power plant in southwestern Germany have been demolished in a pair of early-morning explosions whose timing was kept under wraps to prevent crowds from gathering during the coronavirus pandemic

Germans Were Skeptical About Vaccinations Before

May 13, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Angst, Conspiracy Theories, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fear, German, Germans, Germany, Vaccinations, Vaccines Leave a comment

Why should they trust them any more now? Should a vaccination against COVID-19 ever be available, I mean.

According to a French online survey of parents in five European countries, Germany has a relatively high proportion of people who refuse vaccinations, when compared with the other nations; nearly 3% absolutely refuse to have their children vaccinated. The German Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) says that around 20% of the population is skeptical when it comes to vaccines…

Unlike in some EU countries, in Germany it has always been up to the individual whether they want to get a recommended vaccine.

“The idea that compulsory vaccinations will be carried out in the future is quite widespread among conspiracy theorists.”

“Incomprehensible” And “Meaningless”

May 12, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Bonds, Bundesbank, Central Banks, Courts, Debt, ECB, EU, Euro, Euro Zone, European Court of Justice, European Union, German, Germans, Germany, Judges, Justice, Law, Rule of Law, Rulings Leave a comment

Are the previous court decisions ruling that the European Court of Justice can have primacy over national law in Germany. It’s also “incomprehensible” that it took so long for everybody to figure this out. I sure hope that this latest ruling won’t be ruled out as “meaningless” later but I’ve had my hopes dashed before.

Germany’s constitutional court sent shockwaves through Europe last week by ruling that the German government and the EU’s top judges failed to properly scrutinise the European Central Bank’s bond-buying programme.

The judgment threatens to turn the European Commission against Germany, the EU’s biggest member state. It raises doubts over the primacy of the European Court of Justice over national law. It also risks driving a wedge between the ECB and its biggest shareholder, the Bundesbank.

Germany’s highest court dismissed an earlier ECJ ruling in ECB’s favour as “incomprehensible” and “meaningless”. That bombshell decision opened the door to potential legal challenges against the EU from other countries, such as Poland and Hungary, whose authoritarian governments are already at odds with Brussels.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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