A bat virus?

March 13, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Health, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

No, not from her.

Report: In 2020, German Government Concluded Lab Leak Odds Were 80 to 95 Percent – According to research by ZEIT and the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the German foreign intelligence service is said to have initiated investigations into the origin of the coronavirus as early as 2020. Until now, an animal market in Wuhan had been suspected as the trigger for the global pandemic.

However, the BND’s investigations led to a different conclusion. According to the BND, the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory with a probability of “80 to 95 percent.” In addition to a series of animal experiments, research was also conducted there on the effects of coronaviruses on the human brain. At that time, an “unusually large amount of knowledge about the supposedly novel virus” was already available, according to the research. The result of the investigation, which has not yet been conclusively proven, therefore also raises questions about the responsibility of the Chinese government in the coronavirus pandemic.

English of the day: Debt overhall

March 5, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means to go bat shit crazy further into debt. Unnecessarily.

German taxpayers “contribute” a billion euros a year now. German politicians burn most of it. They have all the money they need. They just refuse to cut spending à la DOGE. This is a “conservative” planning to do this, mind you.

German parties agree on historic debt overhaul to revamp military and economy – The parties hoping to form Germany’s next government on Tuesday agreed to create a 500 billion euro infrastructure fund and overhaul borrowing rules in a tectonic spending shift to revamp the military and revive growth in Europe’s largest economy.

Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD), who are in negotiations to form a coalition after a national election last month, will put their proposals to the German parliament next week.

German of the day: Goldgrube

March 4, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means bonanza.

Time to invest in the German defense industry. But you knew that already.

Germany eyes swift moves on defence, investors sniff bonanza – The prospect of a military spending boom by Germany unprecedented since the Cold War sent Europe’s defence stocks soaring after Reuters reported the likely next government was mulling a fiscal sea change for Europe’s biggest economy.

Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, did not confirm that his conservatives and the Social Democrats were considering setting up special funds worth nearly a trillion euros to finance urgent defence and infrastructure spending.

One-sided demonstrations directed against one party?

March 3, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

And funded by a government under the control of the opposing party?

This somehow sounds vaguely familiar.

Germany’s conservatives scrutinize state support for NGOs – Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc is questioning the political neutrality of some NGOs. That could weigh on relations with its potential Social Democrat coalition partners…

In its inquiry, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group refers to an article in the conservative-leaning German daily Welt in which several experts on constitutional law expressed very critical views about the demonstrations.

“Associations that helped organize ‘firewall’ demonstrations did not act on a charitable basis,” argued Volker Boehme-Nessler from Oldenburg University. “The demonstrations were one-sidedly political. They were directed concretely against one party, the CDU.”

German of the day: “Die Deutschen können es nicht lassen”

March 1, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

That means “the Germans just can’t stop doing it.”

Calling people Nazis, that is. One person in particular. They just can’t see that they’re getting lonelier with every passing day. But once they do, they’ll suddenly be gleichgeschaltet (brought into line) like everybody else and Klassenbester (best of the class) again.

The Germans have a word for what’s happening in Trump’s America – As the president lays waste to the rule of law, too many Americans are experiencing ‘Gleichschaltung” — being brought into line.”

Car-rammings, stabbings, bombs…

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

It’s up to you.

The main thing is that everybody has a jolly good carnival celebration time!

German police on alert after Islamic State calls for carnival attacks – Police are on high alert ahead of Germany’s traditional carnival celebrations this week after social media connected to the Islamic State militant group called for attacks targeting revellers in Cologne and Nuremberg, said police spokespeople.

Bild newspaper reported that a German-language propaganda site run by IS had published a computer-created collage image calling on viewers to “choose your next attack target”, and listed the dates and locations of upcoming carnival events.

Sherlock himself

February 25, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Must have figured this one out.

Syrian suspect in Berlin Holocaust Memorial stabbing wanted to kill Jews, investigators say – The suspect in a stabbing attack at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial that seriously injured a Spanish tourist is a Syrian refugee who apparently wanted to kill Jews, investigators said Saturday.

The 19-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday evening, nearly three hours after the attack, when he approached officers with blood on his hands and clothes…

The suspect arrived in Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor and successfully applied for asylum, investigators said. He lives in Leipzig.

German of the day: Ins Ungewisse schrumpfen

February 24, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

That means to “shrink into obscurity.” Like the German Greens just did.

They got their asses whooped, in other words. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

The Greens shrink into obscurity – The Greens finish in fourth place in the federal elections. It is still unclear whether there is an option for power – but the battle to interpret the result has already begun.