Have A Merry Muslim Christmas?

December 19, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Administrators, Christianity, Christmas, Education, Islam, Political correctness, Religion, Teachers 7 Comments

If only we could. I thought this was fake news at first but this stuff is for real, folks. Although… What is real anymore, anyway? Fake is real, real is fake. But I digress.

A Muslim student at a German high school in Lüneberg complained about a planned Christmas celebration to be held during class so, well, it promptly got cancelled.

“It’s really difficult for the school administration to find a compromise. One doesn’t want to hold an event just for Christians and exclude other religions.” No, one doesn’t. Does one? Damn. And I wasn’t even aware that we had been excluding all those other religions all those other years in the past, either. I’m not worthy.

And yeah, it’s really difficult alright. It’s clearly really difficult to find school administrators who have any sense these days. Well, at least we know now that school administrators are the same the world over. Except in Muslim countries, perhaps.

“Es ist auch wirklich schwierig für die Schulleitung, einen Kompromiss einzugehen. Man möchte nicht nur eine Veranstaltung für Christen machen und andere Religionen ausgrenzen.”

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Merkelism

December 18, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, CDU/CSU, Coalition Governments, German, Germans, Germany, Government, Merkelism, Refugees 2 Comments

What is that, anyway? I’m still not so sure but I do know that it now belongs to the past.

Hey, the dinosaurs were still around a bit after becoming “extinct,” too.

This guy makes some good points here:

It could still be awhile before Angela Merkel cedes power, but it’s clear that we’ve entered the late phase of Merkelism. This form of governance has been dominant in Germany for the past 12 years. It places consensus, quiet and stability above all else…

Merkelism is in a state of crisis because two important prerequisites are no longer being filled. For one, it requires a societal climate in which broad consensus is possible. And, by its very nature, it also requires that Merkel be strong…

And the mechanics of how it worked were quite simple: Backbone is optional and political policies are fluid – and can even be borrowed from political opponents.re:

But the one piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit in here is her self-inflicted refugee crisis wound. It makes absolutely no sense within this consensus context and remains the Merkel Mystery par excellence. At lest for me it does. And this is what has brought Merkelism down, of course. It’s the asteroid the caused her extinction.

For many years, a fundamental consensus held in Germany. Merkel’s concept of sedation worked by and large — and not even the greatest crisis of her time, the global financial crisis, could divide the country. But that peace finally came to an end due to the 2015 refugee crisis — a conflict that landed the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in parliament, divided Merkel’s Christian Democrats, distanced the Free Democrats from the Greens and drove a wedge between the center-left Social Democrats and parts of the conservatives. That divide now runs right through the political center and a broad periphery has emerged on the right with which no consensus is possible.

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German Of The Day: Suboptimal

December 17, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Defense, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, NATO, Pacifism, Profit, Readiness 1 Comment

That means sub-optimal, of course. Somewhat less than perfect.

And, as reported earlier, that is the condition in which Germany’s mighty submarine fleet is currently in.

Abysmal Readiness – Indeed, the German military, which transitioned to being a purely volunteer force in 2011, has struggled to fill its ranks, and has sought to appeal to young recruits with more flexible hours, cozier barracks and childcare facilities. A recent publicity campaign featured one of the female sailors serving aboard a U-Boat, which commentators have pointed out would be impossible now due to the entire fleet being grounded.

Exports of these babies, however, couldn’t be doing better. You do the math. You know, just do a little sub-traction.

Germany’s low levels of defense spending in the post–Cold War era reflect a commendable wariness toward using military force after the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany in World War II. However, as the state with the greatest wealth, population and political clout in the European Union, it will be expected to contribute more to European defense as Moscow presents a more aggressive posture in eastern Europe.

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German Of The Day: KoKo

December 14, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: CDU/SCU, Coalitions, German, Germans, Germany, GroKo, KoKo, Language, SPD 1 Comment

It’s kind of like a GroKo, only it’s a KoKo instead.

It’s some crazy new SPD invention – cooperation coalition – to make the folks who just voted them out of office forget about the GroKo they were a way big part of – the main reason they got voted out of office, by the way. KoKo sounds better, I guess. And it isn’t a GroKo anymore, see? So the people will like the KoKo. If they’re coo coo they will. But they’re not. So this word will only be around for a few hours, folks. Enjoy it while it’s here.

SPD und Union ringen um eine neue Bundesregierung. GroKo ja oder nein? Ist „KoKo“ vom Tisch?

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Buddhists, Baptists And Scientologists Urge Recognition Of Jerusalem As Their Capital Now, Too

December 13, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Germany, Israel, Jarusalem, Palestine, Trump, USA Leave a comment

With Israel urging the rest of the world to recognize West Jerusalem as its capital and Muslim nations now urging that East Jerusalem be recognized as the Palestinian capital, other pushy and state-less religious denominations have gotten into the fray, as well.

Buddhists have staked a claim for North Jerusalem while Baptists have already set up their tents in South Jerusalem. Where the Scientologists are going to find any room to move is anybody’s guess.

Germany, for its part, has stressed that it will continue to refuse to recognize any of these nations and/or religions until it is finally recognized by the rest of the world as being completely unrecognizable. From what it used to be, I mean. Which has already been recognized, hasn’t it?

Nachdem US-Präsident Trump Jerusalem als israelische Hauptstadt anerkannte, forderte Israel die EU-Staaten auf, dies auch zu tun. Eine deutliche Mehrheit der Deutschen lehnt dies ab, wie der WELT-Trend zeigt.

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We Worry

December 12, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hysteria Tags: Angst, Climate, Climate Change, German, Germans, Germany, Polls, Surveys, Worry 6 Comments

People living in Germany are the most worried about climate change, according to new analysis of 18 countries published this week.

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) examined data collected by the European Social Survey on public attitudes to climate change of 16 European countries, Russia and Israel.

Of these 18 countries, it found Germans are the most concerned, with 44% “very or “extremely” worried about climate change. At the other end of the spectrum, just 15% of Poles say they are “very or “extremely” worried.

Meanwhile… Chaos hits European flights as snow snarls major hubs. Germans worry about that kind of stuff, too. They’re always leaving Germany in the winter to escape the cold weather.

Der Winter hat in vielen Teilen Deutschlands zu chaotischen Zuständen geführt. In einigen Regionen zählte die Polizei in der Nacht zum Montag Hunderte Einsätze.

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German Of The Day: Gefangenenaustausch

December 10, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings Tags: Corruption, Courts, Crime, Dieselgate, Environment, German, Germans, Germany, Jurisdiction, Law, Prisoners, Volkswagen 1 Comment

That means a prisoner exchange.

And that is what this guy, the German executive guy responsible for environmental questions in US-Amerika for VW who just got sentenced by a US court to seven years in prison and $400,000 – after “admitting to charges of conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violate clean-air laws” – is hoping for.

Of course in this case, if nobody can find a US-Amerikan prisoner in Germany worth swapping places with, the exchange could still take place between prisons, couldn’t it? At any rate, his lawyers would like to exchange his yucky American one for one of the more humane German kind.

This is another one of those cases where worlds collide, folks. Convicted murders don’t get seven years over here in Germany. And this wanted clown goes on vacation in Florida thinking nobody will notice (that’s where they busted him)? Here’s some more German of the day: Wer nicht hören will muss fühlen. Those who refuse to follow the rules shall feel the consequences.

Sieben Jahre soll der VW-Manager Oliver Schmidt wegen des Abgasskandals in einem US-Gefängnis sitzen. Doch der Verurteilte hofft auf eine Überstellung nach Deutschland – womöglich im Austausch mit einem US-Häftling.

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Promise?

December 6, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Allies, Defense, Foreign Policy, Gabriel, German, Germans, Germany, Independence, NATO, Politics, SPD, Trump, USA Leave a comment

Do you promise that “relations with the US will never be the same after Trump?”

Because that would be great if you made sure that was the case, German Foreign Minister Gabriel (SPD). And I couldn’t agree more with what you just said in that context; that Germany needs to be more confident about defending it’s own interests and draw red lines where it needs to draw red lines. Germany first? By all means. It’s not the most original idea but we can all see where you’re coming from. Stay tuned, everyone.

Deutschland müsse künftig selbstbewusster seine Interessen vertreten, verlangt Gabriel. “Wir müssen selbst unsere Positionen beschreiben und notfalls rote Linien ziehen – unter Partnern, aber an unseren eigenen Interessen orientiert.”

Modern Art For Modern Sensibilities

December 4, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Art, Bataclan, Berlin, France, German, Germans, Germany, Islam, Islamist Terror, Kunst, Martyrdom, Paris, Terror, Terrorists 2 Comments

I know, modern isn’t modern anymore but being a martyr is about as modern as it gets these days.

At least that’s the case at “The Other Eye of The Tiger” art exhibition in Berlin Kreuzberg.

This “martyr museum” places one of the Islamist terrorists responsible for killing 89 innocent people at the Bataclan in Paris next to people like Martin Luther King. One of the artists explains it thus to us dumb folks: One has to differentiate when considering the term martyr, he says. And it always depends on the context. Indeed it does. Always. Even I knew that. How do people get this confused?

Don’t try to understand art, people. Just experience it. Then after you’ve vomited it all out move on to the next exhibition.

Am Ende der Reihe steht Ismaël Omar Mustafaï, einer der Islamisten von Paris, die am 13.?November 2015 im Konzertsaal Bataclan in Paris 89 Menschen ermordeten.

Give Us More Of What We Just Voted Out Of Office

December 3, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Berlin, CDU/CSU, Coalition Governments, Elections, FDP, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, SPD 1 Comment

The city of Berlin isn’t the only thing that is dysfunctional in Germany these days.

Maybe the Germans ought to consider fixing their parliamentarian system, too. I mean, the one thing that voters made perfectly clear just a few weeks back is that they do NOT want a continuation of the so-called GroKo (grand coalition government of CDU/CSU and SPD). But after Empress Merkel failed miserably during the Jamaica exploratory talks by going greener and green and letting the FDP get away, new talks are beginning to go for that very thing.

She doesn’t want to go with a minority CDU/CSU government, you see, because than her majesty’s government would have to explain everything to parliamentarians first before getting a majority to pass any legislation. She can explain things just fine, it’s just that fewer and fewer Germans agree with her explanations anymore. But a minority government is what she must go with, I find, until new elections are held. This, too, being something that nobody wants.

So, German voters got what they voted for, I guess: Nothing that they wanted.

Deputy SPD head Olaf Scholz said recently that a rebirth of the grand coalition would “have negative consequences for our democracy.” It would also mean that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) would be the strongest party in opposition. That means it would always have the privilege in parliament of delivering the first rebuttal to Merkel’s speeches.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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