We will not give in!

We’ll just give up. Probably next week some time.

But we will not give in!

Germany leads defiance of Trump car tariffs, saying it ‘will not give in’ – President Donald Trump targets imported cars and car parts with a 25% tax in his latest tariffs.

Other major world economies have vowed to retaliate, with France’s president branding the move “a waste of time” and “incoherent”, Canada calling it a “direct attack”, and China accusing Washington of violating international trade rules.

Let’s talk

Talking is always good. But action is better.

Until today, the EU imposed import tariffs on US cars five times higher than the tariffs imposed by the US on European imports.

That’s changed now.

German minister, autos lobby call for urgent EU-US talks over tariffs.

There’s just less and less demand these days…

To go to Brussels.

Who would want anything to do with the European Parliament industrial complex if could be avoided?

Off the rails: Night train from Berlin to Brussels will stop running at the end of March – Passengers can still travel between Berlin and Brussels on an overnight train using the European Sleeper.

European Sleeper is also a much more appropriate name, I find.

German of the day: Erbärmlich, armselig und jämmerlich

That means pathetic.

Trump cabinet members tear into ‘pathetic’ European allies for ‘free-loading’ in leaked messages – The messages have come to light in an extraordinary security breach after a journalist was added to a high-level messaging group by mistake.

Key members of Donald Trump’s cabinet have ripped into European allies, branding them “free-loading” and “pathetic” in extraordinary leaked messages.

The messages have come to light after The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a private Signal messaging group by mistake, by Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz.

No, it isn’t

Germany is not back. And it won’t be coming back until its politicians respect the will of the German electorate. This is not the government Germans voted for.

Germany is back, says Merz after historic spending deal – Germany’s conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, has clinched an enormous financial package to revamp defence and infrastructure, ahead of a crunch vote in parliament next Tuesday.

Merz, who aims to lead a government with the Social Democrats in the coming weeks, is in a rush to push through a big boost in spending on defence and creaking infrastructure…

“This is nothing less than a financial coup.”

PS: And who says they have the votes to push this through next Tuesday?

But I always take my tattoo equipment with me wherever I go

Doesn’t everyone?

I had no intention of working. Honest. And so I forgot my Esta travel permit. No big deal. Shit happens.

And then of course shit happened.

German tourists’ ordeal reportedly ending as they are returned from US detention – A German tourist detained by US immigration authorities is due to be deported back to Germany on Tuesday after spending more than six weeks in detention, including eight days in “solitary confinement…”

The families of the two tourists, who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), had compared their ordeals to “a horror film.”

A bat virus?

No, not from her.

Report: In 2020, German Government Concluded Lab Leak Odds Were 80 to 95 Percent – According to research by ZEIT and the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the German foreign intelligence service is said to have initiated investigations into the origin of the coronavirus as early as 2020. Until now, an animal market in Wuhan had been suspected as the trigger for the global pandemic.

However, the BND’s investigations led to a different conclusion. According to the BND, the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory with a probability of “80 to 95 percent.” In addition to a series of animal experiments, research was also conducted there on the effects of coronaviruses on the human brain. At that time, an “unusually large amount of knowledge about the supposedly novel virus” was already available, according to the research. The result of the investigation, which has not yet been conclusively proven, therefore also raises questions about the responsibility of the Chinese government in the coronavirus pandemic.

One-sided demonstrations directed against one party?

And funded by a government under the control of the opposing party?

This somehow sounds vaguely familiar.

Germany’s conservatives scrutinize state support for NGOs – Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc is questioning the political neutrality of some NGOs. That could weigh on relations with its potential Social Democrat coalition partners…

In its inquiry, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group refers to an article in the conservative-leaning German daily Welt in which several experts on constitutional law expressed very critical views about the demonstrations.

“Associations that helped organize ‘firewall’ demonstrations did not act on a charitable basis,” argued Volker Boehme-Nessler from Oldenburg University. “The demonstrations were one-sidedly political. They were directed concretely against one party, the CDU.”

Car-rammings, stabbings, bombs…

It’s up to you.

The main thing is that everybody has a jolly good carnival celebration time!

German police on alert after Islamic State calls for carnival attacks – Police are on high alert ahead of Germany’s traditional carnival celebrations this week after social media connected to the Islamic State militant group called for attacks targeting revellers in Cologne and Nuremberg, said police spokespeople.

Bild newspaper reported that a German-language propaganda site run by IS had published a computer-created collage image calling on viewers to “choose your next attack target”, and listed the dates and locations of upcoming carnival events.