Green With Envy

April 11, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: CO2, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Hybrids, Political Parties, Politicians 3 Comments

Or with hypocrisy. Take your pick. In this case it’s both.

For a political party that wants no more gas/diesel-driven cars to be produced in Germany as of 2030, their talking head types sure seem to like the ones they can still get their sweaty little hands on.

A leading green politician lady was caught on film by the CDU competition as she got out of her CO2-belching Audi A8 Dienstwagen (official car) and into one of them there more correct kind of hybrid models – before driving off to an election campaign event.

The CDU guy who posted his stuff on social media wrote: “First have yourself driven to Dusseldorf in a big honking Audi A8 and then quickly jump into your waiting environmentally friendly hybrid car in the hope that nobody notices. Here’s to Green double standards!”

If I were her I’d just plead the fifth. Or tell everybody that I was suffering from performance anxiety, a very common ailment here.

„Kleiner Tipp an Frau Löhrmann: Beim nächsten Mal das Fahrzeug vielleicht besser in der Tiefgarage wechseln.“

What’s-His-Name (SPD) Open To Coalition With Whoever

April 10, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Elections, German, Germans, Germany, Martin Schulz, SPD Leave a comment

Only whatsherface (CDU/CSU), so-and-so (FDP), whatchamacallit (the Greens) and dinglehopper (the Left) don’t really want anything to do with him. Whatever.

Schulz’s approval rating has been on the up in recent months, with opinion polls suggesting he is in with a fair chance against current Chancellor Angela Merkel.

However, the country’s recent regional election in the south-western state of Saarland, seen as something of a bellwether for the upcoming general election, saw high voter turnout and a comfortable win for Merkal’s Christian Democrats (CDU), suggesting some public aversion to a leftist leadership.

“Whoever is interested to join the government led by me is invited to join it after the election and to open a dialogue with me.”

German Of The Day: Willkommenskultur

April 9, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Asylum Seekers, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Refugees, Studies, Surveys Leave a comment

That means “welcoming culture” and refers to the German willingness to accept refugees.

It is, of course, a Märchen (fairy tale), as a survey on Friday is now beginning to make clear and not really a great revelation for anyone who lives here, either.

A new study has revealed that a majority of Germans are unwilling to take in more asylum seekers. The country took in around 890,000 refugees in 2015. According to a representative survey conducted by the Bertelsmann foundation, 54 percent of the respondents said Germany had reached the limit as far as accepting asylum seekers was concerned. In 2015, the same survey showed 40 percent of people holding this opinion.

Let’s face it, Germans are fine and decent people but the German culture has never been a “welcoming culture” in that sense. That many Germans would like to believe that it is anyway speaks for their good will and good intentions but they know themselves that this simply isn’t true. Reality has a way of catching up with good intentions, the road to hell being paved with them, as we all know.

In einer am Freitag veröffentlichten Emnid-Umfrage im Auftrag der Bertelsmann Stiftung sieht eine knappe Mehrheit von 54 Prozent der Befragten Deutschland an seiner Belastungsgrenze angekommen. Vor zwei Jahren teilten diese Auffassung noch 40 Prozent.

Bundeswehr CIS

April 6, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking Tags: Bundeswehr, CIS, Cyber Attacks, Defense, German, Germans, Germany, Hackers Leave a comment

No, not CIS as in Crininal Investigative Service. That’s CIS as in Cyber and Information Space Command.

That’s the name of Germany’s new “cyber commando” group, some 260 crack nerd troops who have now begun defending their country against cyber attacks (over 284,000 such attacks were registered during the first nine weeks of this year alone, according to the German defense ministry). As soon as they get funding for computers and other cyber stuff like that, that is (this is the Bundeswehr after all).

IT specialists have cast doubt over the ability of the Bundeswehr as currently configured to keep up: its procurement processes are notoriously slow, for example. It will need to show itself to be much more flexible and agile in future.

German Trust In Media Rises Sharply After Being Told That German Trust in Media Rises Sharply

April 4, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: Big Brother, Fake News, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Lügenpresse, Media, News, Polls, Studies, Trust 2 Comments

German told their trust in newspapers soars to record level.

After being told that a total of 55.7 percent of respondents to a study said they trust the print press, a total of 55.7 percent of respondents to the study said they trust the print press, a drastic rise on the 45.7 percent of respondents who gave that response in 2015, they were told, and the highest level of trust since the survey was first conducted in 2000, somebody told them, too. Or so I’ve been told.

Noch nie seit über 15 Jahren war das Vertrauen in die Presse so hoch wie heute. Den deutschen Medien ist es gelungen, das in sie gesetzte Vertrauen zu stärken und weiter auszubauen.

Suspect X From County Y

April 2, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Anonymity, Asylum Seekers, Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Media, Migrants, Terrorism Leave a comment

Or German of the day: Migrationshintergrund.

That means migration background.

It might be the norm in other countries, but in Germany, revealing a criminal’s country of origin in the media is still highly controversial. But some say that doing so can even serve to rectify prejudiced opinions.

Rectify prejudiced opinions? You mean, knowing the truth might “rectify” the opinions you don’t want people to have? Sure, that might be a good start. Might not be. Hard to say for sure.

The suspect is a “German WITHOUT a migration background.”

German Of The Day: Inside Islam

March 31, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Books, Extremism, German, Germans, Germany, Integration, Islam, Mosques, Preachers, Religion 1 Comment

That means Inside Islam and it’s the name of a new book by journalist Constantin Schreiber.

In it he describes his visits to 20 randomly selected “normal” mosques in Germany (he avoided anything that had to do with extremism) and how he was alarmed to discover that the preachers there were not only conservative but also undermined all German efforts directed toward equality and integration.

Believers were exhorted to live by Islamic values and to stay away from the sinful ways of the world outside. Those who do not follow Islamic rules were threatened with the hell fires of the other side.

One preacher’s statement sums it up nicely: “You can’t be both a Muslim and democrat (a supporter of democracy). There can be nothing that is both sweet and bitter.”

“Ich habe, wenn ich mit den Imamen sprechen konnte, auch immer die Frage gestellt, Denken Sie, dass Ihre Moschee ein Ort für Integration ist? Und es haben alle Imame interessanterweise gesagt, ja, unsere Moscheen sind Orte für Integration. Wenn ich dann aber zum Beispiel gefragt habe, wie lange sind Sie denn in Deutschland, dann habe ich zu hören bekommen, neun, elf oder vierzehn Jahre, dann habe ich gefragt, sprechen Sie Deutsch? Nein.”

Germans Involved In Airstrike?

March 30, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Airstrike, Bundeswehr, German, Germans, Germany, ISIS, Syria, Tornados Leave a comment

What, like an airstrike for higher pay and more vacation? Or one for planes that actually fly? This must be some kind of a misunderstanding or something. German war planes (the ones that still fly) are only used on missions of goodness and niceness.

German jets reportedly passed intelligence to the anti-IS coalition for an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians in Syria. Germany only provides reconnaissance and does not carry out attacks.

“The conflict in Syria is very heavily dependent on aerial intelligence. Countries which may not be involved in the direct fighting in Syria, such as Germany, are nevertheless playing a key role in gathering crucial aerial intelligence, which then feeds into lethal strikes by others, primarily the United States.”

Maybe London’s Just Not All That Much Into You, Frankfurt

March 29, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Article 50, Brexit, EU, Finance, Frankfurt, Germany, London, LSE Leave a comment

Now that national interest rates are up, I mean.

A German bid to buy the London Stock Exchange has been sunk by the EU competition watchdog.

The Frankfurt-based German exchange Deutsche Boerse was bidding to buy the LSE in a deal that critics have warned would be against Britain’s national interest.

The Art of the Deal: Die Europäische Union, aber auch die britische Regierung betreten damit ein völlig unbekanntes Gebiet. Desintegration war bislang nicht vorgesehen.

Scientific Team That Discovered Gravitational Waves Hired By SPD To Discover “Schulz Effect”

March 28, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Elections, German, Germans, Germany, Martin Schulz, Political Parties, Saarland, Schulz Effect, Science, Social Democracy, SPD 3 Comments

The scientists and engineers who made the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves are now being asked by Germany’s SPD to provide conclusive evidence that the so-called “Schulz Effect” exists, too.

After miserably failing their first electoral test this past weekend under their new leader, Martin Schulz, some voices in the SPD ITSELF are now questioning whether or not the infamous effect ever even existed in the first place. Much less now.

“Like, where’s the Rindfleisch (beef)?” asked one disgruntled social democrat after his party rolled over and died last Sunday in Saarland. “I was led to believe that this effect was unstoppable and here we are crapping out again, as usual, at the very first opportunity we get. Enough of these affected claims about the effect, comrades. I want some hard scientific evidence. And I want it pronto.”

The rest of Germany could not be reached for comment as it never believed in the “Schulz Effect” in the first place. The scientific team, also unaffected by the effect, will begin it’s groundbreaking work effective immediately.

“SPD-Messias” Schulz in der Falle: Seine einzige Machtoption könnte bei Merkel liegen.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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