German of the day: Herbst der Reformen

September 2, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

That means the autumn of reform.

It’s similar to the German spring, summer and winter of reform, only here nothing gets reformed in autumn.

Germany’s Merz faces trouble over ‘autumn of reform’ – Friedrich Merz has decided that the autumn must be the season for tackling Germany’s urgent domestic problems, but that means conflict with his center-left coalition partners.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s “autumn of reform” could turn into a season of coalition strife as he plows ahead with his ambitious plan to reform Germany’s welfare state, while bringing in tax reforms to boost the economy.

The challenges are significant: The German economy now faces a third year without GDP growth, the welfare state and pension system are failing to keep up with demographic challenges, and the federal budget has a hole of some €172 billion ($200 billion) for 2027 to 2029.

Me, an extremist?

September 1, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , Leave a comment

I’m just an extremely ugly woman in an extremely confused country.

Convicted German neo-Nazi to serve sentence in women’s prison after changing gender – The Self-Determination Act, which only came into force in November of last year, enabled Liebich to be placed in a prison aligning with their self-described gender identity.

Still “managing it…”

August 31, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Not.

The influx of migrants has been out of control for ten years now and there’s no end in sight.

Germany updates: Merkel’s ‘Wir schaffen das!’ 10 years on – Today marks 10 years since Chancellor Angela Merkel said “we’ll manage it” as Germany welcomed hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

“Wir schaffen das” is now “wir sind geschafft.” We’re done. Exhausted.

If a dog bites a man, that’s nothing…

August 30, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

But if a Senegalese migrant bites an officer, that’s not anything either.

Senegalese Migrant Bites Municipal Officer in Berlin – A CDU politician witnessed a brutal attack in Berlin-Pankow when a 30-year-old Senegalese man assaulted two municipal officers, biting one in the cheek.

The incident began when the man was approached over a discarded cigarette. He refused to pay the €55 fine or show his ID card, instead he started insulting the inspectors and accused them of racism.

When the officers attempted to block his path, the man punched one in the face and then bit a hole in his cheek. The injured officer was hospitalized for inpatient care.

Opera posing as an opera…

August 29, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

tells a story of a German journalist posing as migrant who was posing as a worker for two years.

But it was only a pose.

Opera tells story of German journalist who posed as migrant worker for two years – Docu-opera explores encounters and ethics of Günter Wallraff’s undercover work in 1980s, which he now describes as an existential necessity.

Of course Germans back voluntary military service

August 28, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

As long as they aren’t expected to volunteer themselves.

German cabinet backs voluntary military service, opening door to conscription – Compulsory military service in Germany was ended in 2011 under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made boosting Germany’s military a priority given the threat from Russia and said “we are now back on the path to a military service army”.

He summed up his thinking earlier this year saying: “We want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don’t have to defend ourselves.”

German of the day: Abbau

August 27, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means reduction, to dismantle or cut.

German car industry sheds 51,500 jobs in a year – The dip equates to almost 7% of the total workforce in the German auto sector. Faltering exports to China and the US play a role, as new tariffs raise barriers to entry in both these core markets.

“The US and China are currently the cause of major concerns.”

As if nothing happened…

August 26, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

As if the daily knife attacks don’t bother anyone.

As if the country didn’t start falling apart the moment she opened up the floodgates.

She regrets nothing and would make the same decision again today. What else is she going to say? Disgusting.

Germany updates: Merkel reflects on 2015 refugee policy – The former chancellor believes much has been achieved since allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany.

Why should your welfare state be any different than the others?

August 25, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

They all run out of other people’s money eventually.

German welfare state ‘can no longer be financed’ — Merz. The German chancellor has called for a welfare reform, putting him on course for a possible clash with the SPD.

“The welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed with what we produce in the economy,” Merz said in the town of Osnabrück.

The coalition partners had already agreed to reforming the social insurance system, which covers health insurance, pensions and unemployment benefits, due to rising costs and gaps in the federal budget.

The chancellor acknowledged that making cuts to social welfare would not be easy for the center-left SPD, but called for the two parties to work together.

German of the day: Keine gute Tat bleibt unbestraft

August 24, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means no good deed goes unpunished.

American good Samaritan stabbed by Syrian immigrant in Germany after stepping in to stop harassment – An American has been stabbed by a Syrian national in Germany after allegedly stepping in to help two female passengers being harassed on a tram, according to reports.

The young man was attacked at around 12:25 a.m. on Sunday after intervening when “two men from a group harassed female passengers” on the tram in the eastern German city of Dresden, Saxony police said in a statement.