Category Archives: Hypochondria

Being Putin’s top lobbyist…

February 4, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypochondria Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Can really wear a guy out.

Former German leader Gerhard Schröder receives treatment after showing signs of burnout – Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has faced heavy criticism in recent years for his ties with Russia, is receiving treatment in a hospital after showing signs of severe burnout, German news agency dpa reported Tuesday.

The 80-year-old Schröder led Germany from 1998 to 2005. He was the leader of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party from 1999 to 2004.

But his involvement with Russian state-owned energy companies and his reluctance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to distance himself wholeheartedly from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has long had a friendly relationship, estranged him from the German political establishment.

We’re number one! We’re number one!

January 9, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hustle (Hoax), Hypochondria Tags: , Leave a comment

20 days a year, suckers. On average.

They don’t call Germany the sick man of Europe for nothing.

Germans are declared ‘world champions in sick leave’ by country’s leading insurer as it reveals workers take average of 20 days off each year…

‘The German economy won’t recover with sick employees, but on the contrary with better working conditions.’ 

Germans were calling in sick long before Gen Z

November 3, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hustle (Hoax), Hypochondria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s a Volkssport (popular national pastime) here. It’s just what Germans do.

People resent living in a political system that takes at least half of what you earn and they “pay it back” every opportunity they get. And twenty sick days a year is nothing. Berlin cops and firemen, for instance, are “sick” more than twice that amount every year.

German bosses are blaming the country’s economic woes on ‘work-shy’ Gen Z calling in sick nearly 20 times a year – Germany is in a structural crisis—with falling exports, soaring energy prices, and weakening competitiveness in its most important sectors. But according to the bosses of Germany’s biggest businesses, the real problem is its workers taking too much sick leave.

Several German employers have lamented a record-breaking year for absences linked to illness.

I’ll bet you ten bucks those statistics are wrong!

November 14, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hypochondria Tags: , , , Leave a comment

OK then. How about twenty bucks?

Germany: 4.6 million adults addicted to gambling or at risk – After a new report revealed the extent of gambling addiction in Germany, a government minister has called for measures including a ban on sports betting advertising on television before 11pm.

Approximately 1.3 million adults in Germany suffer from a gambling disorder and a further 3.3 million show initial signs of gambling addiction, according to a new report presented by the country’s Federal Drugs Commissioner Burkhard Blienert on Monday.

According to “The Gambling Atlas,” which draws on data compiled in 2021, 30% of German adults gamble. The figure represents a reduction on the 55% calculated in 2007, but the report nevertheless found that 7.7% of adults suffer financial, social or health problems associated with addition.

“War” is the past tense of is

November 11, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hustle (Hoax), Hypochondria Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

In German. “Was,” in English.

So that headline down there doesn’t make much sense – in my mind. The German army was never “was ready” and never will be.

Germany aims for a ‘war-ready’ military – It’s the most momentous shift in German defense priorities since 2011.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is forcing Germany to turn its military into a powerful and well-financed fighting force focused on defending the country and NATO allies, Germany’s chancellor said on Friday.

“Today, nobody can seriously doubt what we in Germany have been avoiding for a long time, namely that we need a powerful Bundeswehr,” Olaf Scholz said on the second day of a political-military conference presenting the deep change in Berlin’s strategic thinking.

“Our peace order is in danger,” he warned, also mentioning the war between Hamas and Israel and adding that Germany needs “a long-term, permanent change of course.”

German Of The Day: Nervenzusammenbruch

December 9, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypochondria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means nervous breakdown. Having them is a favorite German pastime. These days especially.

Germans on the verge of a nervous breakdown – It’s a sign of the nation’s fraught state of mind that many seriously believe this week’s unlikely plotters could have toppled democracy.

Early Wednesday, thousands of balaclava-clad German police officers fanned out across the country, arresting 25 people and seizing weapons to upend what authorities described as a diabolical plot to overthrow the country’s government and reinstate the monarchy. The group’s “military arm” was surreptitiously building “a new German army,” the lead prosecutor on the case said.

A day later, however, the case looks more like the script of a Monty Python episode than a sequel to the Day of the Jackal…

Al Qaeda it was not.

How Many More Times Does The German Forest Need To Be “Rescued?”

September 11, 2022 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Before it gets rescued for good, I mean.

It gets rescued regularly every few years (Waldsterben, acid rain, bark beetles, etc.) and it’s really starting to get tedious, you know?

How to rescue the German forest – Climate change and drought are threatening the existence of Germany’s forests, which are at the very core of the country’s sociocultural identity. But the most famous forest ranger says there is hope.

German Of The Day: Affentheater

May 23, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Health, Hideology, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Literally, monkey theater. Meaning farce, charade, monkey business.

Germany monkeypox infections rise to three after Berlin cases – At least two cases of monkeypox have been registered in Berlin, health authorities in the German capital said on Saturday, one day after the country registered its first case in Munich.

German Of The Day: Gescheitert

April 8, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means failed.

As in “The German parliament just failed in its attempt to push for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.” This is getting scary, people. Imagine. This means that non-vaccinated German citizens will be able to decide for themselves whether they will be vaccinated or not. The horror or something.

Germany’s Scholz says he will not make second push for vaccine mandate – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was disappointed the lower house of parliament on Thursday voted against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for people over 60, but would not launch a second attempt to push for a mandate.

Germany’s vaccination campaign is faltering, with around 76.6% of Germany’s population having received at least one dose – less than the more than 80% in other western European countries such as France, Italy and Spain.

A cross-party proposal had envisaged a bill requiring citizens aged 60 and over to be vaccinated against COVID-19 from Oct. 15, in an attempt to avoid another wave of the virus in the autumn.

German Of The Day: “Es geht auch anders”

March 20, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means: There are other solutions. There are better alternatives.

And suddenly, inexplicably, despite the GROWING NUMBER of coronavirus infections, most German pandemic restrictions will now no longer be necessary. Makes one wonder if they were necessary in the first place. Hmmm.

German lawmakers vote to abolish most pandemic restrictions – Lawmakers in Germany have voted to abolish most of the country’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite a surge in infections, with almost 300,000 new daily cases reported