German Of The Day: Bußgeld
That means fine. As in money. As in Corona money.
Most of Germany imposes $59 fine for mask-wearing breaches – German Chancellor Angela Merkel says most of her country’s states have agreed to impose a minimum fine of 50 euros ($59) for breaching mask-wearing rules as coronavirus infections rise again
Hmmm. In theory, Germany is a federal Government and this should be left up to state governments to decide but the times, as we can see, they are a changin’.
In decentralized Germany, imposing and loosening virus-related restrictions is a matter for the 16 state governments, so a patchwork of rules has emerged in recent months. Some areas have imposed no punishment for people who don’t wear masks as required in public transport, shops and elsewhere while others have imposed high fines.
Berlin Cancels Protest By Protestors Who “Question Democracy”
By, well, cancelling Democracy itself.
Berlin bans large weekend protests against coronavirus restrictions, citing health grounds – The city government of Berlin has called off several planned weekend protests, the largest of which on Saturday expected to draw 20,000 people or more. The organizers plan to challenge the move in court.
Anyone who does not conform to the red-redder-green party line is immediately labeled a right-wing extremist. Works every time.
German Of The Day: Nichtstun
That means doing nothing. And nothing is what German students want.
Is genius made from bootstraps or handouts? A university in Germany may answer that question by giving out free money for being lazy. The University of Fine Arts in Hamburg said it’s going to give three people $1,900 “idleness grants.”
I doubt if any new discoveries will be made here. Academics know this already: “Doing nothing isn’t very easy.” But, hey. Somebody has to do it.
The “grant for doing nothing” will be for “active inactivity” as the project studies lack of ambition for research for an exhibition next year on sustainability called The School of Inconsequentiality: Towards A Better Life.
“This scholarship program is not a joke but an experiment with serious intentions — how can you turn a society that is structured around achievements and accomplishments on its head?”
Achieved?
Germany has took on more than it can handle. And is continuing to do so (400+ per day). That’s what it has achieved.
Germany: Five years after the refugee crisis, what’s been achieved? – Five years ago, as hundreds of thousands of refugees came to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel maintained: “We can do it.” How has Germany — and those who sought asylum — managed since then?
…The initial “welcome culture” that Merkel advocated dissipated on New Year’s Eve 2015/16, when women were assaulted by migrants in Cologne’s main railway station.
And then came the Berlin terror attack, foiled terror attacks, all the other crime, disappointment and daily conflicts the German media does its best to ignore. And most Germans just keep on pretending that none of this is really happening. Why? Because Germany is a Moral Superpower? Are Germans that good at denial (see WWII and Communist East Germany)? Maybe it isn’t really happening. If you don’t see it in the news and no one is allowed to express an uncomfortable opinion or inconvenient truth about it maybe it didn’t happen, right? You don’t even need a Big Brother in Germany. Everybody does this voluntarily.
No Way Back
No way out. No doubt about it.
Spending other people’s money is so exciting. Joint debt is the bestest kind of debt there is. It’s free. Somebody else will pay it back. In this case, the Germans. Germans who haven’t even been born yet, but still.
Germany’s Scholz (SPD) sees ‘no way back’ from EU joint debt – German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said Sunday (23 August) that the European Union’s recovery package financed by joint borrowing was a long-term measure rather than a short-term coronavirus crisis fix, contradicting Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The Recovery Fund is a real step forward for Germany and for Europe, one we won’t go back on,” Scholz, who is also the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate to succeed Merkel in 2021 elections, told the Funke newspaper group.
Germany Would Be So Much Poorer Without Berlin
Not. Not according to this latest study.
Normally, the per capita economic output (GDP) in capital cities in Europe is higher than in the rest of the given country. There is one big exception, however. Germany would be wealthier without Berlin.
“Poor but sexy” is out. Now Berlin is just poor. Actually, it’s been that way for ages but nobody seems inclined to do anything about it. See the current red-redder-green city government.
Jeder Deutsche wäre ohne Berlin knapp 80 Euro reicher. Every German would be about 80 euros richer without it.
Kim R.
German Dogs Will Soon Be Forced To Take Better Care Of Their Owners
Dog owners are not just cuddly toys, mutts. They also have their own needs.
New Law Proposed in Germany Demands Dog Owners Take Pets on an Hour-Long Walk Twice a Day.
I’ve been told that another new proposed law would force German dogs to teach their owners to roll over and play dead every time the government asks them to but the political opposition insists that this would be unnecessary government intervention as this has already long been the case.
“They’ll be telling cat owners how often they need to change their litter trays next.”
German Of The Day: Islamistisch Motiviert
We’ve actually got two today: Islamistisch motiviert and Psychiatrie.
Islamistisch motiviert means Islamist motivated and Psychiatrie means psychiatry. You know, Islamist motivated like the attack with the car in Berlin yesterday? And psychiatry as in admitted to psychiatric care like the Islamist who carried it out?
A pattern is developing here. Islamists who regularly do this type of thing in Germany are admitted to psychiatric care while the people who let them in are allowed to continue holding office as if they were sane.
“A religiously motivated background cannot be excluded.”
Observing Hermann 