German Of The Day: Versehentlich

That means by accident. By accident, Mr. President? Really?

Iran

I don’t believe in accidents. I’ve seen too many of them.

In gaff, German president’s office slams Iran on Islamic Revolution anniversary – In what observers are calling an embarrassing error, the office of Germany’s president sent a message to Iran to mark the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, even though he wanted to send no message given the political situation there.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office “mistakenly” sent the telegram, which was prepared in advance in case the president chose to use it, Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.

Im vergangenen Jahr hatten die Glückwünsche Kritik unter anderem vom Präsidenten des Zentralrats der Juden, Josef Schuster, hervorgerufen. Der Iran droht Israel mit der Vernichtung.

German Of The Day: Bitch

That means bitch.

Buzz

Remember: Germany is the land of Goethe and Schiller. These two guys are Goethe und Schiller 2.0.

How many ex-boyfriends have you already had, bitch?
Look at me, bitch. Look at what a beauty I am. Ten.
Oh my God!

Honey, how many ex-boyfriends do you have, bitch?
I’m much too young. I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend.
Oh my God!
Ra-ta-ta-ta!

Bitch, how many ex-boyfriends do you have?
I don’t have an ex-boyfriend yet, bitch.
Oh my God!

German Of The Day: Zerreißen

That means to tear up.

Pelosi

That’s Nancy Pelosi. She’s a crazy lady. And they’ll soon be coming to take her away.

They’re coming to take me away
Ha ha, they’re coming to take me away
Ho ho, hee hee, ha ha
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I’ll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats…

Nancy Pelosi reißt nach Donalds Trumps Rede zur Lage der Nation dessen Manuskript in Stücke.

German Of The Day: Bootsmigranten

That means boat migrants.

Migrants

You know, like “most boat migrants are not refugees?”

The number of refugees coming to Europe keeps climbing from month to month but the fewest  of them are refugees and the fewest of them will be given permission to stay. The punch line: They’ll stay anyway.

Die meisten Bootsmigranten sind keine Flüchtlinge.

Can You Tell The Difference?

Apparently in celebration of the recent trademarking of her name and the #FridaysForFuture movement, climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been turned into a wax statue in Germany.

Greta

No, not her personally. I mean she has been immortalized in sculpture at the Panoptikum wax museum in Hamburg. An interesting twist: Thunberg’s sculpture is reportedly the first in the museum that will change clothes as the seasons change. Kind of odd if you think about it, though. With the temperature rising due to climate change is this going to turn into some kind of bizarre striptease or something? And what about the issue of melting wax, huh? Has anybody given that any thought? Maybe it’s time to start a new movement to combat that. Do I have to think of everything here, people?

Greta 2

Can you tell which one up there is Greta and which one is made of wax? You don’t think both could be made of wax, do you?

German Of The Day: Ehrenbürger

That means citizen of honor.

Hindenburg

And now, after 87 years, Berlin’s red-redder-green city government (SPD, the Left Party, the Greens) has decided that Paul von Hindenburg can no longer carry that title.

Liberals everywhere are all the same. They are routinely shocked to discover that historical figures fail to meet their current level of enlightened leftist consciousness and must therefore ridicule their memory with pious outbursts of intoxicating guilt and self-righteous outrage. Otherwise they’re a nice bunch of folks, I’m sure.

Am 20. April 1933 wurde Paul von Hindenburg Ehrenbürger Berlins – am gleichen Tag wie Adolf Hitler. Nun wurde ihm die Ehrenbürgerschaft aberkannt. Er habe dazu beigetragen, die Demokratie in Deutschland zu zerstören.

Who Would Have Thought That Possible?

That the film guru in charge of the Berlin Film Festival’s propaganda efforts from 1951 until 1976 was also closely involved with the Nazis’ film propaganda efforts, I mean.

Nazi

Ex-Nazis in Germany? In the 1950s? How could that be possible?

Will the horrors never cease? First all the crappy movies. Now we find out that the whole shebang is Nazi-verseucht (infected). Let’s call the whole thing off.

The Berlin Film Festival turns 70 this year, but plans for the anniversary celebration have been overshadowed by new revelations that Alfred Bauer, Berlin’s first festival director, had deep ties to the Nazis.

33% More Women Directors?

Fine with me. Just as long as they can ensure that 97% of the movies shown at the Berlinale remain as crappy as they’ve always been.

Women

This morning’s Berlinale Competition line-up announcement featured 33% films (six of 18) with women directors, including one project, DAU. Natasha, which is co-directed by a man and a woman (Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel).

That’s a drop on last year’s percentage of 41%, when seven of 17 pics selected were from female filmmakers (the figure is seven of 16, 44%, if you don’t count Zhang Yimou’s One Second, which was pulled before it screened).

Still, the Berlin fest continues to compare favourably to the other major European festivals. In 2019, Venice featured just two women directors of the 21 films in its Competition (less than 10%), while Cannes selected four of 21 (19%).

Berlin Competition Lineup: Kelly Reichardt, Sally Potter, Abel Ferrara, Christian Petzold; Disney’s ‘Onward’ & Hillary Clinton Also Heading To Fest

These Wind Turbines Don’t Work

Wind

German wind energy is in a crisis – “Five times the amount of wind turbines are needed.”

Like these wind turbines up  there, Germany’s energy turnaround just isn’t turning around the way the smart people who planned it planned it. To turn around.  Unless turning around and around  in circles counts.

A mere 1078 megawatts worth of wind turbines were built last year – nearly 80 percent lower than the 2017 level.

Eine Windkraft-Leistung von gerade mal 1078 Megawatt wird im vergangenen Jahr installiert – fast 80 Prozent weniger als noch 2017.

It’s A Good Thing Germany Has Such Strict Gun Control Laws

Otherwise the death toll at this shooting would have been a whole lot higher. I assume.

Guns

The shooter did have a gun license, after all.

6 dead, 2 injured after family shooting in Germany, police say – Police were called to the scene of the shooting, in a building near the town’s main railway station, shortly after midday Friday. Some victims were shot inside the train station, while others were shot in a nearby house, local police told ABC News.

The alleged gunman, a 26-year-old man who police said had a gun license, was arrested shortly after the shooting.