Category Archives: Hurt Feelings
There’s always a first time
Then a second, then a third…

Volkswagen shutters a German plant for first time ever as Trump tariffs squeeze car giant – Volkswagen is ending vehicle production at its Dresden factory — the first time in the automaker’s 88-year history that it has closed a plant in its home country — as weakening demand and punishing US tariffs squeeze the German car giant.
The last vehicle rolled off the line Tuesday at the Dresden site, known as the “Transparent Factory” because of its glass-walled design, capping 24 years of production that began in 2001.
Nobody wants to host Climate Woodstock anymore!
German of the day: Stadtbild
That means cityscape. And this word is apparently offensive to Germans.

To Germans who are in denial about violence, sexual or otherwise, being committed by… As I said, in denial.
‘Ask your daughters’: Merz defends his call for large-scale deportations – German chancellor accused of taking a page from extremist parties with ‘dangerous’ rhetoric on immigration…
Merz said his priority was “security in public space” and stressed that only if it could be guaranteed “will the [mainstream] political parties win back trust”.
He had drawn flak last week for remarks that critics said hinted that diversity itself was a problem in German cities: “Of course we still have this problem in the cityscape, and that is why the federal interior minister is now working to enable and carry out expulsions on a very large scale,” Merz said on a visit to Brandenburg state outside Berlin.
Ai Weiwei should have read my blog more often…
Then he wouldn’t have been so, you know, surprised.

Just sayin’.
What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier – A German newspaper commissioned an article from me but then refused to publish it…
A society governed by regulations, yet lacking individual moral judgment, is more dangerous than one with none at all.
A society that values obedience without questioning authority is destined to become corrupt.
A society that admits to error but refuses to reflect on its origins possesses a mind as stubborn and dull as granite…
It’s nothing personal, Mom
It’s purely financial.

Daughter suspected of burying Holocaust survivor mother in yard to collect German reparations – Israel Police uncovered the body of 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Maina Tolstikov, allegedly buried by her daughter and the daughter’s partner in their Carmiel yard to keep receiving state and German compensation funds.
The motive, investigators believe, was purely financial. Tolstikov, as a Holocaust survivor, received tens of thousands of shekels each month from the Israeli government and Germany. “They simply never reported her death and kept withdrawing the funds for over a year and a half,” Reuveni said.
German of the day: Flagge zeigen
Output kaputt
To put it nicely.

German industrial output posts biggest decline in more than three years – German industrial output fell much further than expected in August, pushed down by a sharp decrease in car production as frontloaded demand ahead of U.S. tariffs dried up.
Industrial production fell by 4.3% compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Wednesday, the biggest fall since March 2022, just after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 1.0% fall.
German of the day: Eskalationsfalle
That means escalation trap.

Berlin calls for strengthening defenses without falling into Putin’s “escalation trap” – The German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, said Sunday that Germany must strengthen its defense capabilities, particularly against drones, while avoiding falling into what he called “the escalation trap” set by the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
During a defense exercise in Hamburg, the minister stressed the need for Berlin to invest in anti-drone and electronic jamming systems, as incursions into European airspace have increased since the start of the war in Ukraine.
“We must build strong defenses, but without responding precipitously to every provocation. This is exactly what Putin wants: a spiral of reactions that would lead to a direct confrontation,” Pistorius warned.
It’s a Mossad state of affairs…
When Germany’s security and intelligence services aren’t able to do their job on their own.

Mossad reveals role in arrest of Hamas-linked cell in Germany said plotting to kill Jews – Effort to stop the cell spanned several countries, and was ‘part of an extensive Mossad effort throughout Europe’ that busted weapons caches, saw other operatives detained.
The Mossad was involved in Wednesday’s arrest of a Hamas-linked cell in Germany that planned to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets, the agency announced Friday.
The Israeli foreign intelligence service said the arrest was possible because of close coordination between the Mossad and Germany’s security and intelligence services.


