And highly unprofitable for Heckler & Koch & Co.
The Shadowy, Homemade Weapons Community Just Keeps on Growing – The right-wing extremist attacker from Halle had numerous homemade weapons with him on his shooting spree. But their quality was poor. Others, though, are perfecting the reliability of 3D-printed weapons – and have moved on to rocket launchers.
“It’s about fairness.” And while we’re at it: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Germany’s new COVID rules, explained – New rules are coming into force as Germany continues its battle against the coronavirus. Infection rates remain stable and many are ready to reopen — but 3 million remain unvaccinated, and health experts are still wary.
As of Monday, the cost of rapid antigen tests is no longer covered by the state… Starting November 1, unvaccinated people will not receive compensation for lost pay if coronavirus measures force them to quarantine…
“It is not about pressure, it is about fairness.”
That means botched.
Merkel’s botched succession: how Germany’s leader failed to keep her party in power – Longstanding chancellor accused of neglecting CDU and losing support of party’s rightwing.
The CDU stopped being conservative, or rightwing if you prefer, long ago. And it’s all her doing. It’s called the Merkel Method: She takes the wind out of her opponents’ sails by becoming more Green than the Greens and more Red than the Reds (SPD). The downside, of course, is that by doing so over the years she turned the CDU into them.
I mean, Russian collusion. YouTube collusion? I dunno. There must be some kind of collusion in there somewhere, right?
Russia threatens to block YouTube after suspension of German RT channels – Moscow warns of retaliation against video-sharing platform after RT channels blocked over Covid disinformation…
YouTube on Tuesday told German media that it had issued a warning to RT for violating its coronavirus disinformation guidelines and then shuttered two channels for breaching user terms.
On Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry accused YouTube of an “unprecedented act of media aggression” which it said was likely aided by German authorities – a claim Berlin denied.
The Russian ministry said the adoption of retaliatory measures against German media “seems not only appropriate but also necessary.”
That means “citrus coalition.” The Greens have green as their party color (what a surprise) and the FDP has yellow.
Germany’s Kingmakers – Difficult Talks Ahead for Greens and Free Democrats – The Green Party and the business-friendly Free Democrats plan to hold exploratory talks with each other before meeting with the main chancellor candidates in the coming days. They appear to be worlds apart but are already finding some common ground…
FDP leader Christian Lindner also continued Monday with the message he initiated on election night: measured praise for the potential coalition partner. The Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) are not parties of change, he said. In talks between his party and the Greens, it would therefore be necessary to examine “whether, despite all the differences, this could become the progressive center of a new coalition government,” even if that seems like a bit of a stretch.
That means mouth and nose protection. You know, a face mask?
They keep you safe. Unless you’re a gas station employee asking a customer to put one on. Then they can be dangerous, deadly even. Remember the days when gas station employees were endangered by people who were already wearing the face masks when they came in?
Germany: Gas station employee killed over a face mask – A 20-year-old clerk was shot after asking a customer to wear a face mask in Germany. The suspected shooter said he was stressed out by coronavirus measures.
Germans in Berlin are integrating into Syrian culture much easier than expected.
Merkel’s Legacy Comes to Life on Berlin’s ‘Arab Street’ – Refugees from Syria have changed the cultural makeup of Germany’s capital in a way not seen since the 1960s.
“It’s just like back home,” said Hamad, 27, a Palestinian born and raised in a Damascus refugee camp. “We know how to trim beards better than the Germans do. But they’re better with color.”
If China won’t let a German warship into one of their harbors who else is going to fix it over there? They may have to blast their way in.
China denies German warship entry into harbor, Berlin says – China has denied a German warship on a mission to the contested South China Sea entry into a harbor, a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The ship involved is the frigate Bayern, the spokesperson told a news briefing, but did not identify the Chinese harbor. The vessel set sail from Germany last month for a six-month mission to the South China Sea.
“China has decided that it does not want a harbor visit, and we took notice of that.”
But walk the walk? How?
Renewables can’t generate enough energy. In Germany or elsewhere. The German “transition to renewables” isn’t doomed because it’s being done wrong. It’s doomed because our civilization can’t return to pre-modern life. Now, nuclear energy, on the other hand…
Can Germany – Europe’s biggest carbon polluter – clean up its act?
That climate change has figured prominently in the national election campaign now underway in Germany is hardly surprising.
Devastating flash floods that killed almost 200 people there this summer have focused even more attention on the issue in a country already reputed to be one of the most climate-conscious in the world. Around 50% of electricity in Germany comes from renewable energy sources, and the government in Berlin has signed up to some of the most ambitious decarbonization targets, including net-zero emissions by 2045 — five years earlier than most other developed economies…
Twenty percent of German power is generated by burning coal — about the same as in the U.S. — but a large amount of the German coal is of the most carbon polluting type, lignite…
Germany has committed to phasing out coal by 2038, but Laumanns would like to see a much quicker exit and hopes the government will be shamed into action at COP26.
“I hope that it’s going to be an international humiliation for Germany, so that this green image of Germany is corrected,” he said.
But what could be more natural than coal, right? Is wind more natural? Why? How?
Germany: Coal tops wind as primary electricity source – In the first half of 2021, coal shot up as the biggest contributor to Germany’s electric grid, while wind power dropped to its lowest level since 2018. Officials say the weather is partly to blame.
The weather made us do it, the Greens will now explain. Like, duh. Are they finally starting to figure it out? The weather always makes us do it. The climate even (weather over time). It’s called not wanting to freeze to death.
Observing Hermann 