German “Passionate Fan Culture”
Only without the passion. It’s a new, I dunno, twist or something.
Germany beat the Czech Republic 1-0 in a friendly on Wednesday but the average domestic TV ratings came in below “Cash for Rarities,” a show about selling antiques. The average audience of 5.42 million was the lowest for a prime-time men’s national team game this century.
That’s unsettling for a country which prides itself on its passionate fan culture. The joy from winning the World Cup in 2014 turned to despair during Germany’s group-stage exit in 2018. Now apathy reigns amid a mediocre Nations League campaign.
Horst Lichter schlägt das DFB-Team.
It’s Never Too Early To Say It’s Too Early
To end the latest lockdown. Covid lockdowns are just that much fun, I guess.
German health minister says it’s too early to tell if its partial Covid lockdown will be extended – It is “too early to say” whether Germany will extend its four-week partial lockdown, according to health minister Jens Spahn.
Das wird uns den ganzen Winter beschäftigen.
You’re Wasting Your Time And Your Money
“Germany’s imams seen as key in combating radicalization.” Right.
Although “Imam training is in the spotlight of this year’s German Islam Conference. In light of recent terror attacks, Germany’s interior minister said a new training program for German-speaking imams was “money well-spent,” those in the know have something else to report. This may be what German politicians want the German public to believe but don’t ask what Islam critic Hamed Abdel-Samad (Muslim himself) has to say about the “show.”
He has been trying for ten years to make progress addressing issues within this so-called German Islam Conference, particularly those regarding the radicalization of youth and the condition of women, but has repeatedly witnessed how precisely these issues are successfully removed from the agenda – and how its German supporters (and tax payers who finance it) do absolutely nothing about it. Now he has resigned in disgust.
Just in case you were wondering, Hamed Abdel-Samad needs bodyguards – here in Germany – and has needed them for years.
„Doch seit dieser Zeit konnten die Islamverbände alle kritischen Themen, die die kritischen Stimmen auf den Tisch gebracht haben, wie etwa das Thema Radikalisierung von jungen Muslimen oder die Stellung der Frau, aus der Tagesordnung verbannen.“
Keep Wearing Those Masks, Germany
They’re working wonders. During your second lockdown “light.”
German Covid Cases in ICU Hit Record as Pandemic Intensifies – Germany has more severe Covid-19 patients than at any point since the pandemic began, underscoring the urgency facing authorities to contain the disease.
Europe’s largest economy had 2,978 people being treated for the coronavirus in intensive care facilities on Monday, exceeding the previous peak of 2,933 on April 18, according to the DIVI register of German ICU capacity.
Merkel Urges Germans to Stick to ‘Wave Breaker’ Virus Curbs.
Early Retirement
If you ask me. So long, Tegel.
Berlin bid farewell Sunday to the German capital’s central Tegel airport, beloved by some and reviled by others, as it shifts all air traffic to a new hub on the outskirts of the city.
On Saturday, airlines moved their last planes stationed at Tegel to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt, which finally opened at the end of October nine years late and far above its original budget.
The final scheduled flight took off Sunday afternoon from Tegel, an Air France jet to Paris, a tribute to the first commercial flight from the airport flown by the airline 60 years ago…
The first commercial flights began in 1960, when Air France started regular service to Tegel.
German Of The Day: Querdenker
That means “unconventional” thinkers. Or mavericks. Or contrarians, if you prefer.
These include, for instance, the 20,000 protestors in Leipzig who refuse to accept the German government’s Corona party line and are energetically expressing their growing dissatisfaction with the latest lockdown “light.”
“Corona party” (Corona party line) has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Nach dem „Querdenker“-Chaos brannten Barrikaden.
Laura M.
German Of The Day: Wunder
That means miracle. As in miraculous.
You know, like Joe Biden receiving 138,339 votes in an overnight vote-dump in Michigan and Donald Trump not getting one? As in zero?
Then another mysterious all-Biden vote-dump happened in Wisconsin. Biden miraculously overcame a 4.1-point Trump lead in the middle of the night thanks to vote dumps in which he got—you guessed it—100 percent of the votes and Trump got zero.
Now another miracle is taking place in Pennsylvania. In 2020 the Wunder never cease, I guess.
Germany On A “Fresh High”
A fresh coronavirus high of 20,000. The Germans are still high on their last coronavirus high (thinking that their restrictions will get this under control), but still.
New cases in Germany climbed to a fresh high, while unprecedented numbers of Covid-19 patients are in intensive care in Belgium…
Germany registered a record increase in new cases, days after the government imposed the toughest restrictions since a national lockdown in the spring.
Europe’s biggest economy had 31,480 new infections in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing the total to 608,611, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The figures have fluctuated wildly in recent weeks, with daily infections falling to the lowest in almost two weeks on Wednesday.
Observing Hermann 