The German Population Is Declining?

October 15, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It depends on who you’re counting in Germany – and their birth rates.

Germany

German population declines for first time in decade – Pandemic has caused a fall in net immigration in the first six months, federal data show.

Translation: The only population growth in Germany comes from those who are not German. And Germany is like Japan (below)? Sort of. Only the Japanese don’t let anyone into their country. Germans no longer have any control over who comes into theirs.

Germany has long been grappling with a Japanese-style combination of low birth rates, an ageing society and a stagnant population of working-age people, which economists say raises concerns about productivity, growth and public finances in the future.

Germany Tough Now On China?

October 14, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sure they are. And I’ve got some swamp land in Florida I can offer you for next to nothing.

China

The Germans are bought and they know it.

Merkel’s China Reset Is Mostly Hollow – As the engine of German export growth, the destination of $100 billion worth of German goods last year, and Germany’s biggest overall trading partner, China is not just a large and profitable market. Germans see China as the mechanism for sustaining the only prolonged era of domestic harmony their country has ever known.

German Of The Day: Weiblich

October 13, 2020 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , Leave a comment

That means feminine. You know, like the German language?

Weiblich

Well, not quite yet.

Germany’s Interior Ministry has objected to draft legislation drawn up by the Justice Ministry that uses the feminine form for every reference to people. It argued on Monday that the result likely would be unconstitutional. In German, linguistic convention has long called for the masculine form of a word to be used as the default when referring to people of either sex, such as in legislation.

In der Bundespressekonferenz ergänzte ein Sprecher des Innenministeriums, die Formulierungen des Gesetzentwurfs hätten “bei formaler Betrachtung zur Folge, dass das Gesetz gegebenenfalls nur für Frauen oder Menschen weiblichen Geschlechts gilt und damit höchstwahrscheinlich verfassungswidrig wäre.”

Flatliners

October 12, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Coronavirus mortality rates: Germans continue to keep not dropping like flies.

Flatliners

They forgot to add the panic level here though. It’s also still as flat as ever. At a much higher level, of course, but still.

Coronavirus digest: Germany mulls restrictions on traveling, partying – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s aide has called for restrictions on social gatherings and travel to deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Germany has reported a surge in daily infections…

While the number of cases and deaths in Germany is lower than in many neighboring countries, the country has been reporting more than 4,000 daily cases since Thursday, the highest since April.

 

German Of The Day: Sperrstunde

October 11, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means curfew.

Sperrstunde

The first one in Berlin in 70 years. It’s a good thing that Germany (and the German capital) has this corona thing under control, right?

Coronavirus: Berlin’s first curfew in 70 years kicks in – The German capital has implemented a nighttime curfew in response to a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases. On the first night of the new regulations the mood was somber in the Friedrichshain district, a virus hot spot…

Leaving a Späti — the Berlin colloquialism for a kiosk — a group of friends is struggling to haul a crate of beer outside into the heavy drizzle, joking that they need to stockpile supplies — or, as Germans would say “hamster” — before the new curfew kicks in.

It’s Reassuring To Know That The Germans Always Have Everything Under Control

October 9, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Especially when you live in Germany. Take the “coronavirus risk threshold,” for instance. Please.

Corona

Hmmm. No longer head of the mask class, Germany? 4,500 new infections yesterday, and rising. Do you have this under control? Does anyone?

Berlin and Frankfurt both hit German coronavirus risk threshold – Germany’s capital and financial capital have both hit the level defined by the government as risky — 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period. It could lead to travel restrictions at home and abroad.

“We must avoid reaching the point where we lose control.”

German Measles?

October 8, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

How racist is that? Next they’ll be calling it the Spanish Flu.

German

Or, heaven forbid, the China Virus (try googling that, you won’t find it).

Newly discovered viruses suggest ‘German measles’ jumped from animals to humans – The virus that causes rubella, or German measles, finally has company. Scientists had never identified close relatives of the virus, leaving it as the only member of its genus, Rubivirus. But with a report in this week’s issue of Nature, rubella has gained a family. One of its two newfound relatives infects bats in Uganda; the other killed animals from three different species in a German zoo and was found in wild mice living nearby as well.

“Now we know that every disease in the letters of the MMR vaccine has a zoonotic origin.”

German Of The Day: Laufbursche

October 7, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means errand boy.

Schroeder

An example would be Russian Putin critic Alexej Nawalny saying of ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (SPD, head lobbyist for Gazprom AKA Gazprom Gerd): „Schroeder is an errand boy for Putin who protects murderers.”

“Schröder ist ein Laufbursche Putins, der Mörder beschützt.”

Great Pumpkin Finally Discovered

October 6, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Humility, Humor Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

And neutralized. And then given an award.

Pumpkin

Finally, some non-fake news we can dig our teeth into.

Monster pumpkin weighing almost 1,600 lbs wins annual prize in Germany – A man from Bavaria has won this year’s award for the heaviest pumpkin grown in Germany, with his winning entry weighing in at a whopping 1,588 pounds (720.5 kilos).

The Great Pumpkin is an unseen character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. According to Linus van Pelt, the Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children. Linus continues to have faith in the Great Pumpkin, despite his friends’ mockery and disbelief.