German Of The Day: Bildungsurlaub

April 17, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Health, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humor Tags: Berlin, Court Rulings, Courts, Education, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Profession, Training, Vocational Training, Work, Yoga Leave a comment

That means educational or vocational training leave. You know, like that yoga course you took for your job?

What? Your boss freaked out at the suggestion? Well, everybody does it here in Berlin. Yoga to go with the times, people.

A yoga course can be considered vocational training, a Berlin court has ruled, paving the way to doing the “Downward-facing Dog” or “Greet the Sun” on company time in Germany’s capital.

The state labour court for Berlin-Brandenburg has ruled a worker has the right to paid leave so they can attend a five-day adult education course entitled “Yoga I – successful and relaxed at work with yoga and meditation”.

The judge ruled that under Berlin’s Educational Leave Act, even a yoga course fulfills the far-reaching criteria of “professional development” which would promote an individual’s “adaptability and self-assertion”.

“Yoga I – erfolgreich und entspannt im Beruf mit Yoga und Meditation.”

German Of The Day: Naivität

April 14, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Aggression, Brexit, Brussels, Business, China, EU, Europe, Expansion, German, Germans, Germany, Industry, Language, Migrants, Trade Leave a comment

That means naivete, as in being gullible or simple-minded.

Here’s an example: Industry Leaders Accuse Europe of Naivete with Respect to China – China’s aggressive approach in extending its economic power is causing concern among European companies. They demand a tougher approach from Brussels – and a convincing vision.

Good luck with that, European industry leaders. “Europe” doesn’t have time to deal with little issues like that at the moment, nor will it have any time in the near future. It is too occupied with self-inflicted problems like uncontrolled migration and Brexit (and the ensuing financial crisis) and placing the next batch of non-elected and unaccountable EU eurocrats in power. But once all that is taken care of, who knows? That little Chinese issue might just get tackled, too.

Die aggressive Vorgehensweise Chinas bei der Ausdehnung seiner Wirtschaftsmacht bereitet europäischen Unternehmern Sorgen. Sie fordern eine härtere Gangart von Brüssel – und eine überzeugende Vision.

German Of The Day: Auslieferung

April 11, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Julian Assange, Justice, London, Rule of Law, Wikileaks Leave a comment

That means extradition.

You know, as in Julian Assange arrested in London – USA demands extradition?

Julian Assange in London festgenommen – USA verlangen Auslieferung

German Of The Day: Enteignung

April 7, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Apartments, Berlin, Building, Construction, Gentrification, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Language, Political Parties, Property, Property Rights, Rents, SPD Leave a comment

That means confiscation or dispossession. You know, like confiscating private property?

And the German Greens hold this to be denkbar – another cool German word meaning conceivable or possible.

After all, the world must be fair and if rising property rents in cities like Berlin – caused by city governments like Berlin (Social Democrats and Greens for decades) – are creating hardship for the 85 percent (!) of Berliners who don’t own property – the government does everything it can to discourage owning property here – then the government that created this mess will simply confiscate the private property of those currently developing new housing and… And what? Give it to the poor? Been there, done that. We all know how that turns out. And who foots the bill. Robin Hoodlums never learn. They have no intention of learning.

Thousands took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday in protest against rising property rents and called for properties of large-scale landlords with more than 3,000 houses to be taken over by the government.

“Das Grundgesetz sieht Enteignungen zum Allgemeinwohl ausdrücklich vor.”

Germany Is NATO’s Biggest Freeloader

April 4, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Anniversaries, Defense, Defense Spending, Freeloading, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Military, NATO Leave a comment

That was a Washington Post headline, not mine.

There’s a German word for freeloader, by the way. Sounds worse in German, too.

As Nato commemorates its 70th anniversary in Washington this week, Germany seems to be labouring mightily to reassure the 29-member alliance that it will never threaten anyone militarily again — because it is in fact its own worst enemy.

How else can you qualify an ally that has announced it won’t be meeting its own pledge to increase defence spending to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2024, even when it has formally committed to a target of 2 per cent, like everybody else?

Eines kann man Donald Trump nicht vorwerfen: Dass er mit seiner Meinung hinter dem Berg halten würde.

Angst, Angst, Angst…

March 29, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hysteria Tags: Angst, German, Germans, Germany, Insurance, Welfare State 1 Comment

Insurance, insurance, insurance.

How German angst created the welfare state – The state sets the tone. Your health insurance contributions are deducted automatically from your salary at a rate of 14.6 percent. You and your employer pay half each. Unemployment, pension and long-term care insurance are also taken out of your pay.

Liability insurance isn’t legally required, but people will raise an eyebrow if you don’t have any. Additional dental insurance, for procedures not covered by the statutory system, comes widely recommended. And if you have a pet, expect to be judged for not guarding against all eventualities…

See German Oddity 11. Germans don’t like surprises. That is probably why they have insurance for practically anything you can imagine. It’s crazy. They not only have vacation insurance, for example, they also have what-if-I-decide-to-cancel-my-vacation insurance. They have insurance for their insurance, you see. And if you were to ever tell a German that you didn’t have any Rechtschutzversicherung (legal costs insurance) they would gasp for breath and look at you like you just beamed down from Mars.

No Parallel Society Here

March 27, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Courts, German, Germans, Germany, Integration, Islam, Kindergarden, Muslims, Rulings, Salafists Leave a comment

Not yet anyway.

But if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

Germany: Muslim kindergarten loses appeal against closure – State officials had ordered “Al Nur” to close following revelations that inappropriate literature had been shared at the kindergarten. The day care center is the only Muslim kindergarten in Rhineland-Palatinate…

The state’s decision to revoke Al Nur kindergarten’s license was lawful because evidence showed links between the school’s administrators and the extremist Salafist ideology, an administrative court in the city of Mainz said. The court said the links made it difficult for children at Al Nur to integrate into German society and compromised their independence.

“Efforts by Arab Nil-Rhein, the association that runs the kindergarten, to distance itself from Salafist thought were not convincing.”

It’s In Their DNA Or Something

March 25, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Brexit, EU, Europe, Europeans, German, Germans, Germany, Religion Leave a comment

Self-abnegating Germans obsess about becoming more European than the other Europeans only to make the EU more German than anyone wants it to be.

What makes me chuckle about the Brexiteers is how little they understand the German mindset. Here in Germany, the European Union is a religion. It is ingrained so heavily in the DNA of nearly every German citizen that any reasoned argument to counter its domination, or challenge its direction, is swiftly dismissed. The integrity of the EU – its unity, identity, money and rules – is central to German identity. That’s why they’ve maintained such a tough stance over Brexit.

And there is a clear reason why. As stated here, The EU is Germany writ large.’

The EU is a religion for Germans – no wonder Brexit is going so badly.

A Large City Every Year

March 24, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Asylum Seekers, Borders, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Immigration, Migrants, Migration, Refugees Leave a comment

The head of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Hans-Eckhard Sommer, is in hot water now.

He claims that the amount of asylum seekers still being allowed to enter Germany is “too high” (162,000 last year) and compares this to “a large city coming to us every year.”

Worse still, he makes the ridiculous allegation that “the state can only handle so much” and then has the cheek to critisize the fact that over half of those seeking asylum (54 percent) still don’t have the decency to carry any identification papers with them.

What a monster or something. He should be relieved of his job immediately.

„EINE GROSSSTADT, DIE JÄHRLICH ZU UNS KOMMT”

Deutsche Sprache Schwere Sprache

March 22, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Asylum Seekers, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Migrants, Refugees 2 Comments

German is a tough language to learn.

For example, nearly half of the migrants who took the German language course offered by Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees last year (93,500 from 202,000 participants), failed. That failure rate of 45% is up from 40% the previous year.

And this was after 600 teaching units forty-five minutes each. Are they stupid? Of course not. But maybe the people who think “integrating” them would be easy. This just shows you what a mammoth task the integration of such a large number of people will be, should it ever succeed at all. If they can’t even speak the language, how can anyone expect them to be integrated? But maybe nobody really does anymore.

Die Durchfallquote bei den Deutschprüfungen am Ende der Integrationskurse ist vergangenes Jahr auf 45 Prozent angewachsen. 2017 lag sie noch bei 40 Prozent. Das zuständige Ministerium will die Kursqualität anheben.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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