It’s deadly out there

November 29, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Climate crisis deadly.

And it’s getting deadlier all the time. Namely, whenever the temperature isn’t “just right.” Whatever “that “just right” might be.

German authorities urge people to stay home amid deadly winter weather – Authorities in western Germany on Tuesday urged residents to stay home, warning of life-threatening danger, after a burst of winter weather led to hazardous roads, leaving two people dead.

The sudden onset of winter led to several accidents and people being trapped in their vehicles due to slippery roads and fallen branches caused by snowfall in many parts of Germany.

Nothing to fear, Germans

November 28, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

You’ll never ever find yourselves in that role and everybody knows it. Like, we get it already. Yawn.

It would be nice, however, if you could maybe possibly perhaps put yourselves in the position to defend yourselves. Just saying.

Most Germans oppose military leadership role in Europe – 54% of Germans say they do not want Berlin to pursue more active foreign policy, and 71% say they are against taking on leadership role for Europe’s defense.

According to the survey, a majority of Germans are against a more militarized foreign policy, but support diplomatic efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.

More wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

November 27, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

They’re still squirming. 1) No money but lots and lots of things to spend it on (spending voters’ taxes is how they get votes). 2) Can’t raise taxes any higher (voters are already being taxed to death).

Let’s see. 3) There’s still this debt brake thing we could tweak (except we would need to change the German constitution and the opposition won’t help us).

This adds up to… Are you serious? Do you honestly mean to tell us that we now have no choice but to set priorities and, gulp, cut spending? OMG we’re all gonna die!

Germany’s budget crisis spurs calls to change its borrowing limits – Germany’s budget crisis has given new momentum to reforming self-imposed borrowing limits even among the opposition conservatives, as hunger for sorely needed investment trumps an earlier political obsession with fiscal rectitude.

This also sounds too good to be true

November 26, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just like yesterday. So it probably isn’t true either.

Germany: Irregular migration drops due to new border checks – Police have registered a 40% fall in unauthorized entries at Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland since new controls were introduced last month, according to a newspaper report.

The introduction of border checks at Germany’s border with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland last month has led to a significant drop in illegal migration, a German newspaper reported Saturday.

Welt am Sonntag newspaper looked at federal police data which showed that there were fewer than 300 unauthorized border entries per day since October 16.

That compares with around 700 per day in the 30-day period before the controls were introduced.

And they said it couldn’t be done.

It sounds too good to be true

November 25, 2023 By in Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

So, it probably isn’t.

US and Germany ‘plan to force Zelenskyy to negotiate’ through choking off arms supplies.

While outwardly expressing full support for Ukraine, behind closed doors in Berlin and Washington plans are being hatched to force Ukraine into talks with Russia to freeze the war on its current front lines, German newspaper BILD said in a report published on Nov. 24.

Asking a government to “fund honestly?”

November 24, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A government with Net Zero Honesty? Good luck with that.

The truth hurts too much.

Germany Faces the Green Fiscal Truth – The constitutional court rules Berlin will have to fund net zero honestly.

Things have gone from bad to worse in Germany this week after a court ruling that’s forcing the government to do something truly shocking: level with voters about how much the net-zero energy transition will cost. Please pass the smelling salts.

German of the day: La malignità

November 23, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Actually, that’s Italian. Meaning Schadenfreude, which is German. Meaning schadenfreude in English. Meaning malicious glee, of course. It’s complicated.

Meloni’s Italy Tastes Schadenfreude Over German Fiscal Fiasco – Stable ratings for Rome contrast with Germany’s fiscal pickle.

“Germans make mistakes too,” says professor at Bocconi.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could be forgiven for feeling any schadenfreude this week while looking on at Germany’s unfolding budget debacle.

A string of fiscal wins for Rome has just coincided with a crisis rocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in Berlin after a calamitous court judgment cast doubt on its financing plans.

German of the day: Loser

November 22, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means loser. It also means losers (in plural).

US and Germany risk owning Ukraine’s stalling war effort – The onus is on European allies to step up support and chart a path for Kyiv towards Nato and EU membership.

More than 50 countries are supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion. Yet Ukraine’s existential struggle in Europe’s largest war since 1945 currently hinges mainly on two countries. US leadership, as well as financial and material support for Kyiv, have been essential to Ukraine’s survival. Germany is its second largest supplier of weapons and money, far ahead of the rest of the field. 

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…

November 21, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Let’s watch them squirm.

We… must… spend… more… money we don’t have! There just has to be a way around this debt brake!

Germany freezes spending as budget crisis deepens – As Germany’s financial woes grow more acute, there are growing calls to suspend the country’s damned debt brake.

Germany’s finance ministry has imposed a spending freeze on all federal ministries, deepening a budget crisis that has rocked the ruling coalition since a bombshell ruling by the country’s top court last week.

The finance ministry decision, which halts most new spending authorizations, followed a ruling by the constitutional court last week that blew a €60 billion hole in the government’s coffers.