It’s Not Supposed To Grow

September 25, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: AfD, Angela Merkel, Asylum Seekers, Fake News, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Media, Migrants, Political Parties, Refugees 2 Comments

The AfD’s popularity. But it keeps on growing. How can that be?

Anyone “good German” you ask will explain to you that the AfD is “bad” and “racist” and “Nazi” and “completely unacceptable.” The friendly people from the German media will explain that to you, too. How could such an awful group of people keep on growing in popularity? Something must be wrong somewhere. What on earth could it be?

The AFD is benefiting from being the official opposition to Chancellor Merkel’s grand coalition government. Polls rate it Germany’s second most popular party, dropping the Social Democrats to third.

It’s Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature

September 17, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Angela Merkel, Chemnitz, Crime, Fake News, Freedom of Speech, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Media, Migrants, Murder, Refugees, State Television Leave a comment

Or fool with her, I should say. Aka The Empress of Europe. Aka Mutti.

Get in the sack, Mr. Maasen. Come on, get in the sack. It’s time to sack you. You criticized my choice of words. You suggested I have a hand in Germany’s fake news industrial lying press complex. I don’t have a hand in it. I run the damned thing. It is time for you to go.

Rival political factions have been locked in a bitter war of words ever since Mr Maasen, the head of domestic intelligence service the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) contradicted Mrs Merkel over the veracity of a video appearing to show foreigners being attacked on the streets on Chemnitz by neo-Nazi extremists.

Laut einem Bericht lässt Kanzlerin Merkel Verfassungsschutzchef Maaßen fallen – ohne Rücksicht auf dessen Chef Innenminister Seehofer.

German Of The Day: Sitzfleisch (vs. Aussitzen)

September 16, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humor, Hypocrisy Tags: Angela Merkel, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Migrant Crisis, Migrants, Politics, Refugees Leave a comment

Take Angela Merkel. Please.

To have Sitzfleisch (sitting meat) means, on the one hand, to be able to sit still for the long periods of time required to be truly productive; it means the stamina to work through a difficult situation and see a project through to the end. On the other hand, it can also refer to someone who doesn’t know when to leave. You know, like the guest who won’t go home or the chancellor who won’t go home, either?

Aussitzen (sitting something out), however, is to deal with a difficult situation or crisis by not doing anything about it. That is, to just wait it out until it finally goes away – or until the person waiting it out claims that it has gone away. You know, what Angela Merkel and other politicians like her regularly do?

“German condenses what would take about seven or eight words in English into one particular word. The humour comes from the density of the word and the fact that it expresses something in such condensed form that we can’t get anywhere near.”

Angela Merkel Condemns Xenophobia

September 12, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: AfD, Angela Merkel, Asylum Seekers, Bundestag, Chemnitz, Crime, Debates, German, Germans, Germany, Migrants, Neo-Nazis, Racism, Refugees, Xenophobia Leave a comment

After her decision to let more than a million refugees into Germany.

She hasn’t got around to condemning murder yet but she’s lernfähig (capable of learning), or at least she claims to be.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned xenophobic attacks and the use of Nazi slogans in a robust speech to parliament on Wednesday after the most violent far-right demonstrations in decades exposed deep divisions in the country.

Protests of right-wing radicals in the eastern city of Chemnitz two weeks ago after the fatal stabbing of a German blamed on two migrants has reignited a fierce debate about her 2015 decision to let more than a million refugees into Germany.

Dann griff er Kanzlerin Merkel scharf an: Sie habe „Fake News“ verbreitet, als ihr Sprecher von „Hetzjagden“ gesprochen habe… „Verbarrikadieren Sie sich nur weiter im Bundeskanzleramt. Ich wiederhole meine Frage: Wer gefährdet den politischen Frieden?“

German Of The Day: SPD

September 4, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: AfD, Andrea Nahles, Angela Merkel, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Migrants, Political Parties, Polls, Refugees, SPD, Surveys Leave a comment

That stands for the Sinking Party of Deutschland. Or was it for Sterbende (dying) Partei Deutschlands? One of those.

I’m talking sinking, folks. Low. How low, you ask? I’ll tell you how low. Why, a pool released today indicates that the SPD’s national popularity rating is now so low that it has dropped behind that dreadful, awful and completely unacceptable AfD party. Times change, comrades. Thanks for your help there, Angela Merkel (she’s not SPD, of course, but her wild and crazy refugee policy has made the AfD what it is today: The second largest party in the Bundesag – and they’re not done yet). The SPD help make up Germany’s current grand coalition, you know. It doesn’t look like their help will be very much help for very much longer, however.

Es ist der nächste Schock für die Sozialdemokraten: Die SPD liegt in einer bundesweiten Umfrage nur noch auf dem dritten Platz – hinter der AfD.

Must Be The Heat

August 21, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Armies, Bundeswehr, Defense, German, Germans, Germany, Helicopters, Managers, Mismanagement, NATO, NH90, Ursula von der Leyen, Women 2 Comments

Modern German war machines aren’t made for it, if you know what I mean.

German army shows off ailing NATO helicopter – German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is touring the ranks of the Bundeswehr this summer. But some of the military hardware she is admiring, like the NH90 helicopter, has seen more ground time than flight time.

Mismanagement or routine problems?

Can’t be mismanagement because Frau von der Leyen is Miss Management herself. She has been the Bundeswehr boss for ages now and would never allow this type of thing to happen even though it clearly is happening (a man would have been fired long ago). Besides, she’s one of Chancellor Merkel’s very top girls in the Chancellor Merkel girl group. They’re called The Untouchables.

“We can say that the NH90 has proved its worth.”

Agreement Kind Of Reached About Actually Sort Of Enforcing A Law That Has Already Been In Effect For Years

August 13, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Dublin Regulation, EU, Europe, German, Germans, Germany, Migrants, Spain 3 Comments

Remember when laws used to have to be followed? Me, neither.

Berlin and Madrid are demonstrating unity with a joint agreement on returning migrants from Germany to Spain. Now Germany wants to seal similar deals with other countries…

Isn’t this already determined by the Dublin Regulation?

Yes, in principle it is. According to the Dublin Regulation, a migrant is supposed to become the responsibility of the country where he or she is first registered. As a rule, it should be the country where they first set foot on European soil. If a refugee comes to Germany and it turns out that he’s already registered in Italy, the German government could send him back there. However, European law also requires it to consider whether it makes more sense for a refugee to stay in Germany — if, for example, they have relatives living here…

Many EU countries consider the Dublin Regulation impracticable. The transfer of migrants from one country to another is extremely time-consuming. Furthermore, many migrants are not even registered at the point when they first set foot on European soil. During her visit to Spain, Merkel too described the Dublin Regulation as “unworkable.”

It’s Good To Be The Queen

August 7, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Angela Merkel, EU, Free Trade, German, Germans, Germany, Trade, Trade Surplus Leave a comment

Of extracting wealth from the rest of the European Union.

While few European states can pretend to share Germany’s distinction of being a “country of poets and thinkers,” none can rival German abilities to extract so much wealth from the rest of the European Union.

Last year, Germany posted a 159.3 billion euro surplus on its goods trade with other countries in the EU — one of the world’s largest free-trade areas and a region with privileged access to German goods and services.

That’s the way it’s been since 1958, when Europe’s common market opened up.

Statistisches Bundesamt: Deutsche Exporte im Juni 2018 um 7,8% höher als im Vorjahr.

One Small Step For Europe

August 2, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Europe, German, Germans, Germany, International Law, Italy, Law, Libya, Migrants Leave a comment

One giant leap for Europe-kind?

An operation in which an Italian towboat rescued more than 100 people in the Mediterranean and returned them to Libya may have been in breach of international law, the United Nations has said.

According to the Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms, the Asso 28, an oil rig support vessel, rescued 108 people from international waters on Monday and took them to Libya, their country of departure.

Die “Asso 28” hat Migranten in Seenot an Bord genommen – und nicht nach Italien gebracht, sondern zurück nach Libyen. Die Regierung in Rom jubelt, doch die Aktion war vermutlich illegal.

When They Go Low We Go Lower

July 30, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: AfD, Angela Merkel, CDU/CSU, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties, Polls, Refugees, SPD Leave a comment

Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc, trying to move beyond a bitter dispute over migrant policy that threatened the coalition, has fallen to its lowest level since 2006, a poll showed on Sunday.

But Angela Merkel keeps on smiling. I don’t know what they pump her up with but I want some of that stuff, too. Reality enhancement enchantment medication, I figure. “It’s good to be the Empress.”

The Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with the conservatives in Merkel’s coalition, failed to capitalize on those losses, also falling one point to 18 percent.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was unchanged at 15 percent while the Greens rose 2 points to 14 percent, their best showing this year, according to Bild am Sonntag.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Angela Merkel