When we could smirk our smirk with impunity.
But then the real world happened. Again.
Germany Should Have Listened to Trump – He was right about Berlin’s self-defense and risky energy dependence on Russia.
The lower house of Germany’s Parliament voted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis last week. It was a timely move. Germany’s leadership class is going to need all the mellow it can find in a world that isn’t going Germany’s way.
That’s all we’ve ever been. It’s never been about film.
But we’re not just Crappy-Movies-R-Us anymore. Now we’re openly anti-Israeli. Wait. We’ve always been openly anti-Israel. But now we’re openly openly anti-Israeli.
Germany launches probe over Berlin film festival anti-Israel row – German officials will investigate how Berlin film festival winners were able to make “one-sided” comments condemning Israel’s war in Gaza at the event’s finale, a government spokeswoman says.
At Saturday’s awards ceremony, several winners were accused of making biased remarks on stage in relation to Israel’s war against Hamas, which began after the October 7 assault by the terror group that killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw 253 taken hostage.
US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, accused Israel of committing “genocide.”
Europe’s largest emitter of CO2 wants to start burying it in the ocean.
Do you have any idea how much dirt that would take?
OK, they want to bury it in sub-seabed storage. But still.
Germany to allow carbon capture, underwater storage – German Economy Minister Robert Habeck says Berlin will need to allow sub-seabed storage of CO2 produced in certain industries in order to reach its goal to be carbon neutral by 2045.
Or Adel verpflichtet in German. You know, the idea that people with a high social class should do things for other people? Like take off their clothes.
German princess strips down for Playboy – Xenia Florence Gabriela Sophie Iris, the Princess of Saxony, is the first aristocrat to pose for Playboy. She is the cover girl for Playboy Germany’s March 2024 issue.
“It’s the first and last time I get naked.”
And I have the unfair advantage of not knowing anything about art.
William Blake’s Universe review – polymath’s paintings are outclassed by the Germans.
A wide-ranging exhibition on the English mystic makes unfortunate comparisons with his European contemporaries who, it turns out, are the far superior Romantics…
“Barry was hid. I am hid”, wrote Blake of their common struggle against the art establishment – but he probably didn’t even know his German contemporaries, Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich, existed. Runge scrutinises himself with sickly melancholy while Friedrich depicts himself with a bandaged eye, not covering any physical injury but suggesting his wounded soul.
I’ll see you down at the cannabis club.
Germany’s Parliament to Debate and Vote on Liberalizing Cannabis Rules – German lawmakers are expected to vote on a government plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, which would decriminalize limited amounts of marijuana and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy it for recreational purposes.
Just say no. When not in doubt, sowieso (anyhow).
“Expansion” is a scary word. It sounds too much like growth, increase, prosperity, success. We vote no! Because you can never know, unless it’s no.
Tesla in Germany: Locals vote against factory expansion plan – Residents of Grünheide near Berlin have voted against expansion plans for the large Tesla facility there. But the vote is not binding and local authorities can still decide. Turnout was high, though, indicating interest.
Maybe destroying all low-Earth orbit satellite communication forever might be a good thing.
Just saying. It would give us the opportunity to get back to the basics again. Back to the roots. And the nuts and the berries.
RUSSIA’S SPACE NUKE COULD DESTROY ORBIT FOR WHOLE PLANET, GERMANS WARN – “NOBODY WOULD SURVIVE AN ACTION LIKE THAT — NO SATELLITE, EITHER CHINESE OR RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN OR EUROPEAN.”
The anti-satellite space weapon Russia is said to be developing could potentially destroy low-Earth orbit for everyone.
“If somebody dares to explode a nuclear weapon in high atmosphere or even space, this would be more or less the end of the usability of that global commons,”
A fourth straight quarter of zero or negative growth.
Germany likely in recession, Bundesbank says – Germany is likely in recession now as external demand is weak, consumers remain cautious and domestic investment is held back by high borrowing costs, the Bundesbank said in a regular monthly report on Monday about Europe’s biggest economy.
Germany has struggled since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy costs, and its vast, industry-heavy economy is now in its fourth straight quarter of zero or negative growth, weighing on all of the euro zone.
Just kidding. That’s Yiddish.
And that means schmusen und Wein in German. Almost. Schmusen in German means to cuddle. Shmues, however, although taken from schmusen, means schmooze, as in gossip or conversation.
So, German of the day Shmues un Vayn, which is actually Yiddish, means getting together for wine and conversation. I think. Now was that so hard?
You can now hear people speaking Yiddish in bars all over Berlin – A Yiddish conversation group meets biweekly at locations around the city. Other people think they’re speaking Swiss German.
Observing Hermann 