German of the day: Frontfrau

That means frontwoman.

Musk interviews German far-right frontwoman – Elon Musk took his endorsement of Germany’s far-right party to the next level on Thursday, hosting a live chat with its frontwoman, Alice Weidel.

The 74-minute conversation ranged across energy policy, German bureaucracy, Adolf Hitler, Mars and the meaning of life…

She insisted her party was “conservative” and “libertarian” but had been “negatively framed” by mainstream media as extremist.

Sections of the AfD have been officially classed as right-wing extremist by German authorities.

She also described Hitler as an “antisemitic socialist”.

On other matters, she and Musk chimed – and at times giggled – over Germany’s infamous bureaucracy, its “crazy” abandonment of nuclear power, the need for tax cuts, free speech and “wokeness”.

German of the day: Cool bleiben

That means to stay cool.

This is very important. Especially when the last thing you are is cool.

Germany: Scholz uneasy over Musk’s support for far-right AfD – Elon Musk’s public endorsement for the far-right AfD has the country’s top leaders worried of undue influence on German democracy ahead of the February snap election.

Scholz on Musk’s attacks: ‘Stay cool’ – Musk, a top adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has been commenting on German politics on his social media platform X for days now.

“Disrespect, defamation and interference?”

Because of a discussion on X?

Discussions with the AfD aren’t allowed in Germany. That’s the real disrespect, defamation and interference.

Musk plans discussion with German far-right leader on X – The live chat with the AfD’s chancellor candidate is proposed as Germany’s political leaders accuse the tech billionaire of election interference…

The German government must clarify “whether the repeated disrespect, defamation and interference in the election campaign were also expressed in the name of the new U.S. government,” Rolf Mützenich, a prominent politician from Germany’s Social Democratic Party, told German outlet Spiegel.

Germans would never seek to influence foreign elections!

It’s just not their thing.

Musk causes uproar for backing Germany’s far-right party ahead of key elections – Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.

Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy.

Irregularity

And it shows.

Germany steps up controls at borders in response to ‘irregular migration’ – New regulations come into force next week following spate of suspected Islamist attacks.

Germany’s interior minister has announced that controls at all of the country’s land borders are to be stepped up in an attempt to confront what it called “irregular migration” after a recent spate of suspected Islamist attacks.

The new regulations are due to start next Monday and to be in place for an initial six months, before being reviewed, Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in a statement.

The move comes after Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), campaigning heavily against migration, this month became the first far-right political party since the Nazi era to win a state election in Germany. It comes ahead of a second round of emergency talks on migration policy due to be held on Tuesday in Berlin between the coalition government, opposition parties and federal states.

How Germany’s far right won over young voters?

Duh. By not being far left.

Much less far left batshit crazy.

AfD: How Germany’s far right won over young voters – For the first time, 16-year-olds in Germany were able to vote in the 2024 European Parliament elections. The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party’s targeted social media campaign appears to have paid off.

The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) made gains in almost all age groups in the 2024 European elections, but its biggest success was among young people. In the last EU election, in 2019, one in three voters younger than 24 chose the Green Party, and the far-right AfD garnered just 5% of the young vote.

No, he didn’t

He didn’t “intentionally use a banned Nazi slogan.”

If you watched the clip, and were fair in your judgement, you would agree. If you want to say the words “everything for Germany” is a Nazi slogan you can, of course (they used it), but something tells me uttering these words didn’t originate with them, nor are they the exclusive property of Adolf Hitler & Co.

You don’t have to like this guy or his politics or his political party to see that “the system” is out to get him (and them). The court system has been weaponized here, in other words. Boy oh boy it sure is good to know that that type of thing could never happen in US-Amerika, right?

German far-right leader intentionally used banned Nazi slogan, court rules – Alternative for Germany politician Björn Höcke was fined for uttering a phrase employed by Hitler’s storm troopers.

A leading politician for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has been convicted by a German court of using a banned Nazi slogan — a decision that is unlikely to dissuade the party’s core supporters in its eastern strongholds.

Björn Höcke, who heads the AfD in the eastern German state of Thuringia, was fined €13,000 for closing a 2021 campaign speech with the phrase: “Everything for Germany!”

If you can’t beat them, ban them

Don’t listen to what the electorate actually wants (an end to the migrant madness), the thing that forced them into the arms of the AfD in the first place.

Just label them “undemocratic” (the votes the AfD gets apparently aren’t as democratic as those of the established parties) and then bump them off.

Germany: Court says far-right AfD is suspected of extremism – The move, which upholds a lower-court ruling the party had challenged, means intelligence services can continue to monitor AfD activities and communications…

For years discussions about a ban have surfaced regularly. Critics of the idea say that would simply play into the AfD’s hands by boosting its narrative of victimisation.

Legally it would also be difficult, time-consuming and possibly be rejected by the constitutional court.

But with each new scandal involving the AfD, calls grow louder from all mainstream parties to investigate whether there are at least sufficient grounds to try.

“Off to a political start?”

There seems to be some misunderstanding here. The Berlin Film Festival has never not gotten off to a political start.

It moves on from there to a politcal midway point and then to a political end, for some political end, politically. It’s never been any different. That’s why the films they show here are always so crappy.

Berlin Film Festival Off to a Political Start as Three Protests Precede Opening Ceremony – After kicking off with a feisty press conference, the Berlin Film Festival got even more political as three groups of protesters descended on Potsdamer Platz before the start of opening night festivities.

New measures “reflect widespread nervousness”

They reflect the widespread nervousness caused by the somewhat older new measures created to increase this widespread nervousness, a widespread nervousness that was increased by other new measures before them that much, much older new measures created in the first place.

You know the routine. Ritual, actually. “Right-wing extremism” is on the rise in Germany. It’s always been on the rise, of course. It’s been on the rise for decades and decades yet it never seems to rise quite high enough to satisfy those worrying about its rising. These are, at the moment, those politicians in the established parties being threatened by the AfD, a party that actually claims to be interested in addressing the migrant madness German voters want them to address, something these established parties refuse to do. They’re plotting to ban the AfD, in other words, because they are incapable of addressing the problems the electorate wants them to address.

Germany bolsters gun curbs, financial policing to rein in far right – German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday unveiled measures ranging from stronger financial policing and earlier detection of so-called botnets to tightened firearms controls to tackle a far-right surge that has spooked the country.

The measures reflect widespread nervousness that the far-right Alternative for Germany party could end up the largest party in several state parliaments later this year, propelled by a gloomy economy and overburdened public services.