I guess this was the last Pirate Party fraternity boy prank before the election. Or forever, for that matter. They’re history here now, just in case you didn’t know.
And just in general, the varying reactions to the drone’s presence (Merkel’s smirk, the death stare from the other lady, and the range of reactions in between from the men on the podium) hint at the general way humans will react to the increased presence of robots and drones in everyday life.
Go to any ALDI or LIDL these days if you don’t believe me (I prefer the Spekulatius myself).
So why should it surprise anybody that’s it’s October in September again already, too. Or nearly so. Prepare or be square.
Tip number 1: Go get your Lederhose NOW. Or a Dirndl, if your prefer. The same applies to the girls. Only after having put on one of these will you be able to celebrate the Oktoberfest in a really zünftig (hearty) fashion. And only after having put down two or three liters of Bier too, of course. But that goes without saying.
Nr. 1 – Das richtige Outfit: In Dirndl und Lederhosen feiert es sich einfach am zünftigsten. Diverse Online-Shops bieten eine große Auswahl für „Madln“ (=Mädels) und „Buam“ (=Jungs). Da aber beides perfekt sitzen soll, empfiehlt es sich, das Outfit vor Ort zu kaufen. Ein Tipp für die Damen: wird die Schleife der Dirndl-Schürze rechts gebunden, gilt Frau als vergeben, links bedeutet: „Ich bin noch zu haben.“
Or let them talk to you. It’s election time here in Germany. And these images below are forms of German politician hand-speak meant to subliminally woo undecided voters at the last minute. Or at least I can only assume that this is what this is meant to be.
“Volksnah” (in touch with the people) by the SPD.
“Bescheiden” (modest) by the FDP.
And “Ruhig” (serene) by the Chancellor herself.
Fingerspitzen sanft aneinandergedrückt, die Hände formen eine Raute – seit Jahren macht die deutsche Kanzlerin Angela Merkel immer wieder dieses “Geheimzeichen”. Und sie ist nicht mehr alleine…
PS: And everybody seems to be doing that Chancellor one these days.
When will the horror ever end?
No, I’m not talking about the radical German Islamists killing Christians in Syria. Nor am I referring to that German spy software being used the world over, either.
I’m talking about the horror of the very thought of German intelligence services having worked together with the CIA for years in a secret anti-terror unit named “Project 6” in Neuss. And get this: In 2010 their focus actually briefly turned to a German journalist! We’re talking horror here, people.
Deutsche Nachrichtendienste und die CIA haben nach SPIEGEL-Informationen jahrelang eine geheime Anti-Terror-Einheit mit dem Namen “Projekt 6” in Neuss betrieben. Herzstück war die gemeinsame Datenbank PX. Im Jahr 2010 geriet ein deutscher Journalist in den Fokus.
PS: I never realized…
Or so claims that anything but courageous fighter for selective justice and phoney moralist-snitch-nerd-global-poster-boy Julian Assange HIMSELF.
And that is why he is now blowing the whistle yet again, only this time from his self-imposed exile in an Ecuadorian Embassy cell, and has made a criminal complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe.
He believes that an evil ex-US Marine Corps spy guy dude pre-leaked his leak while Assange was visiting a “Chaos Computer Club” convention in Berlin back in 2009. And this is just plain not fair, I guess. And leak-worthy in and of itself.
Nach Darstellung des NDR und Süddeutscher Zeitung soll Assange in seiner Strafanzeige den Bundesanwälten angeboten haben, sich per Video zu dem Vorgang vernehmen zu lassen.
When you get the top award in the category of Best Informant from a country like Germany, you know you have most definitley reached the top of your game.
And so it comes as no surprise to most Hollywood award-watchers out there that Edward Snowden has just received the German “Whistleblower Prize” in recognition of his “bold efforts” to expose the monitoring of communications data by his trusted, I mean trusting employer.
As we all know, Germany enjoys an incredibly long and rich tradition of abusing individual freedoms, usually in the form of “Spitzel” or spying activity practised between private individuals, regardless of the current political or totalitarian system they may find themselves in, so this prestigeous award immediately skyrockets Snowden to the exalted ranks of the top double-crossing turncoats of recent German, if not world history.
Snowden himself was speechless. But this was mostly because he was not available for comment, nor will he be able to pick up said award for some strange reason, but still.
“Wir sind Edward Snowden außerordentlich dankbar.”
Reluctance? No reluctance here. Saying no is the standard German operating procedure in this country. You know that, Karl-Theodor. It’s just good-old German irresponsibility when it comes to international matters that might actually cost them something.
So what’s being “tested?” I don’t get it. Why waste all these words and all this time trying to make something so blood simple appear to be so complicated, Karl-Theodor? No need to explain. This is standard operationg procedure in Germany, too.
In the wake of the chemical weapons attack near Damascus, Western military strikes against Syria seem imminent. And Germany will once again demand a special role.
PS: Important German of the day here: Extrawurst. That means “extra wurst” of course, or special treatment.
Now these are what I call political animals. Grrrr.
A bunch of Femen activists were demonstrating again somewhere in Berlin today against somebody cracking down on their Femen activities somewhere in some country some place as if somebody could care less or was even freakin’ listening.
Activism sure can be a dirty business, can’t it? And nasty, too. But somebody’s got to do it.
“My boobs, my bombs.”
A smack upside they green veggie heads, in other words.
If you believe the latest voter survey, that’s what the German Greens are getting at the moment.
Seems to have something to do with their recent Veggie Day Offensive. Or maybe it has something to do with their overall everyday offensiveness or another one of their many other offensive ambitious dreams for Verbotsrepublik Deutschland. Hard to say for sure.
NEUE WÄHLER-UMFRAGE SCHOCKT TRITTIN & CO.
Only this blunder was made by the Greens themselves during the Red-Green coalition government reign back in 2005.
Hard to believe really, but their 328-page election program “Time for Green Change” actually denounces as “a fatal policy change” the legislation they themselves introduced that increased the percentage of what employees have to pay for their share of the statutory health insurance here (employers pay the rest).
Well, I suppose it is better to realize one’s mistakes late than never and all that, but I’m not sure if that is really what was intended here.
If it wasn’t for Schadenfreude, I wouldn’t have no Freude at all.
“Bei all den erhobenen Zeigefingern gegenüber den anderen scheint kein Finger mehr für saubere Recherche im eigenen Laden frei gewesen zu sein.”
Observing Hermann 