“More Complicated Than It Seems”

Really? Or is it not the least bit complicated at all?

Deportation

There are simply no consequences for those who break the law in a country where the rule of law has been undermined by the state itself.

Germany: Number of asylum-seeker deportations fell in 2019 – Despite the rising number of asylum-seekers ordered to leave Germany, deportation figures fell in 2019. But the reasons why are more complicated than it may seem.

“It needs to be clear: if someone’s asylum request is rejected, they must leave the country.”

German Of The Day: Umweltsau

That means environmental pig. And that’s what German kids call grandmothers who aren’t greener than Green.

Umweltsau

It has a touch of Hitlerjugend or Stasi to it, don’t you think? German state TV at its best. It may have been meant as a satire but something went horribly wrong.

German grandmothers protested outside the offices of state broadcaster WDR in Cologne on Saturday after the station posted a satirical video about old people’s environmental carelessness…

The video, which is set to the tune of a well-known children’s song, satirises older generations’ attitude to the environment and climate change, including the provocative refrain “my grandma is an environmental pig…”

In the video, the children also sing that their environmental-pig grandma cooks discount meat every day, drives an SUV and takes frequent cruise trips. The song closes with a sample of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg saying “we will not let you get away with this.”

“Grandma isn’t just an environmental pig but a Nazi pig.”

German Foreign Minister Concerned That The Middle East Could Now Become Destabilized

After the drone attack that killed top terrorist Qasem Soleimani, I mean. Well, we certainly wouldn’t want that.

Heiko

We can all sleep safer at night knowing that seasoned professional diplomats like Heiko Maas are always on the world stage ball ever prepared to lecture the United States about problems their own countries haven’t the slightest clue about dealing with. Or the will to do so if they did. Good intentions make the world go around.

Comments made by the foreign minister demonstrate that in case of Iranian aggression, the federal government will not take sides with America. Germany has no answer to the aggresive Iranian expanansion and wallows in the role of de-escalator.

“In the coming days, we will do all we can to counteract a further escalation of the situation – in the United Nations, the EU and in dialogue with our partners in the region, including in talks with Iran.”

Durch die Aktion“ sei es „nicht einfacher geworden, Spannungen abzubauen. Das habe ich auch @SecPompeo deutlich gesagt“. Es wird den amerikanischen Außenminister schwer beeindruckt haben.

Are All American Celebrities Experts On Nazi Germany?

No wonder they’re all so, I dunno, celebrated or something.

Celebrities

Linda Ronstadt sees ‘great parallels’ between Hitler’s Germany and Trump’s America – In a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the Grammy-award winning singer said she sees “great parallels” between pre-Nazi Germany and now.

“The intelligentsia of Berlin and the literati and all the artists were just busy doing their thing. Hitler rose to power. There were a lot of chances to stop him, and they didn’t speak out… By the time he got established, he put his own people in place and stacked the courts and did what he had to do to consolidate his power…”

Hitler “stacked the courts.” Hilarious. People who say such things out themselves as not knowing the slightest thing about Nazi Germany. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, of course, but they really out to consider keeping their ignorance to themselves.

$33 Billion And Counting

In fines. Up until now.

VW

But would it matter if Volkswagen paid another 30+ billion to German customers too? Who would trust this company anymore, whatever they paid? What did Warren Buffet say? “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

VW to Sound Out Settlement in German Car-Owners’ Mass Lawsuit – Volkswagen AG and German consumer group VZBV agreed to settlement talks in a court case involving hundreds of thousands of drivers who claim that their diesel cars lost value in the wake of the emission-cheating scandal.

But Where Does All This CO2 Keep Coming From?

We’ve shut down practically all of our nuclear power plants already.

Plant

Of course, we had to replace them with dirty coal-firing ones but we’ll be shutting those down soon too. Unfortunately, the renewable utopia we ordained those many years ago still isn’t working yet for some odd reason nor does it look like it will anytime soon. But still. At least the energy prices German consumers have to pay keep climbing and climbing to ever ridiculously high and higher levels. Maybe we could start cutting off power in German homes and industries for a few hours every day and get the populace to stop making so much CO2 that way – and spend more time out in “nature.” It would only be for their own good. Then the rest of the world would admire us yet again for the fine example we have set and start emulating us with gratitude (we are the Big Green and Moral Superpower, after all). Then Planet Earth and Planet Germany would be rescued in no time.

Germany shuts down atomic plant as nuclear phase-out enters final stretch – The Philippsburg power station is one of the only plants still operating in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg. Germany has vowed to start decommissioning every nuclear power facility by the end of 2022.

Angela Merkel’s blunder of the decade that’s taboo in Germany (he means before her blunder in 2015).

East Germans Should Stop Moaning Like East Germans

And learn to moan more like us West Germans do.

East

German political grandee Wolfgang Schäuble on Saturday said the country should recognize the huge social upheaval the eastern states have experienced since reunification. But he also warned eastern Germans that they should show more self-confidence and less cynicism.

The West German lack of self-confidence and its deep-seated victim culture are much more refined, he did not add, and its particular brand of cynicism is leagues more schooled and sophisticated than the cynicism in the East. You could learn a whole lot from us so get on with it already, he did not say either.

“Some maintain their own victim status, instead of confidently pointing out their valuable experience in adapting to massive social upheaval, compared to the West.”

German Of The Day: Rekordhöhe

That means record level. As in record level of German weapons sales.

Record

The federal government has authorized a record level of weapons exports. The number of export permits for armaments reached a new record high. Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of at least 65 percent for 2019.

Bundesregierung genehmigt Rüstungsexporte in Rekordhöhe – Die Zahl der Exportgenehmigungen für Rüstungsgüter hat einen neuen Höchststand erreicht. Im Vergleich zum Vorjahr gab es 2019 eine Steigerung von mindestens 65 Prozent.

It’s Magic

Christmas magic. The German media clones (aka Brain Police) are passing around Christmas presents in a frenzy.

Media

On the one hand: The number of applications for asylum in Europe is climbing again for the first time since 2015 (half a Million). On the other hand: The number of asylum seekers in Germany continues to decline.

At first glance, this doesn’t make much sense. Taking a closer look, however, this doesn’t make any sense at all. But tis the season to be jolly, folks, so when it comes to fake news numbers, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

Fast eine halbe Million Menschen: Eurostat meldet laut einem Medienbericht erstmals seit 2015 steigende Asylantragszahlen. Deutschland nimmt jedoch relativ gesehen immer weniger Menschen auf.

Less Choice Is Always Germany’s First Choice

You can’t just go giving people the freedom to choose. Look at this Brexit mess, for example.

Uber

And this applies all the more when it comes to new business models in Germany. Especially if they come from US-Amerika. Then you would have Amerikanische Verhältnisse here in no time. And we certainly don’t want that. Once you start allowing customers to decide for themselves what services they prefer to use it’ll be Brexit all over again. Business Brexit. At least for the old overpriced, highly protected and monopolized business models so popular here in Germany, I mean.

Uber Hit With Fresh German Ban – After its core service was banned in 2015, Uber had begun offering rides through car-for-hire services

A regional court in Germany frustrated Uber Technologies Inc. UBER’s efforts to mount a comeback in the country, adding to regulatory pressure on the ride-hailing company, particularly in Europe.

Thursday’s ruling by a regional court in Frankfurt marks a fresh setback for the San Francisco-based transportation company, which is trying to repair its reputation among regulators after expanding rapidly and challenging local transport laws where it operated.

Among the countries that have been the most resistant to Uber is Germany, where the company had been experimenting with ways to overcome a nationwide ban imposed in 2015.