Almost half want a ban on fireworks?

That means more than half don’t.

Let the Knaller (bangers) knallen (bang)!

Almost half of all Germans want a ban on fireworks – In Germany, it is only permitted to sell fireworks in the three days leading up to New Year’s Eve. Some line up early to buy them, but others have safety concerns and want to see them banned altogether.

Happy New Year!

The Global Censorship-Industrial Complex

Isn’t all that complex.

It just wants to tell you what not to think. It suppresses American viewpoints, in other words.

USA sanctions leadership of German organization HateAid – The entry ban imposed by the US government due to alleged censorship of American online platforms also affects the directors of the German organization HateAid, which is committed to combating hate online.

“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to force American platforms to punish American viewpoints that do not suit them.”

Giving things away on the street must be verboten!

Or at least strictly regulated. Then verboten.

Anything in Berlin that is not expressly permitted must be forbidden.

Berlin to crack down on a beloved giveaway tradition – One resident’s trash is another’s treasure has long been part of Berlin’s culture, but the German capital has had enough and plans to raise fines. Will they work?

Between old sofas and broken fridges, boxes of baby clothes and crates of cassettes, hidden treasures dot Berlin’s streets. In one such collection of unwanted stuff, Berlin musician Eno Thiemann discovered a new favorite author.

The Haruki Murakami books were left outside with the label “zu verschenken.” Meaning “to gift”, it’s a tradition that has long seen Berliners leave their repurposable goods on window ledges and in front of houses for others to take. And take, they do. Often within a matter of minutes.

“I was very pleased when I came back in 2013 to see that there’s some kind of culture,” said Thiemann, who had left Berlin three decades earlier before the practice took off. “Most people don’t just throw the trash out — it’s a nice thing to do and it’s enriching the neighborhood.”

But as Berlin plans to fine people for putting items on the street, this informal circular economy could become a thing of the past. The city’s environment department argues that while the idea behind leaving things out for others to take is “good and desirable,” it has “led to excesses that are not in line with the original intention.”

German of the day: Messerverbot

That means knife ban.

Now it looks like Germany needs an axe ban too.

Police say a man injured 4 with an axe on German train before he was detained – German police say a man attacked and slightly injured four people with an axe on a long-distance train in Bavaria before he was detained by police.

Democracies and Death Cults

Looks like the death cults win.

Douglas Murray has been blacklisted in Berlin – as a British writer living in Berlin, I recently attempted something that now passes for quietly provocative: I tried to buy a book. Not just any book, but On Democracies and Death Cults, the latest from Douglas Murray.

Germany first to figure out what’s going on with Chinese 5G components

If you start counting at the end of the line.

Why Chinese technology set off alarm bells in Germany – Even as the German government moves to bar components made by China’s Huawei and ZTE from core parts of the country’s 5G networks, some German companies are looking to work with Chinese firms in other critical areas…

The ban comes as Chinese technology firms are increasingly viewed with suspicions for their allegedly too close ties to the government in Beijing. Especially Beijing’s drive to make companies like Huawei and ZTE world leaders in high-tech sectors makes Western governments wary of giving them too much influence on their national infrastructures.

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.

Let’s make the AfD stronger!

Similar to the way the dirty tricks played on Donald Trump in the Banana Republic only make him more popular, German anti-AfD protests are only increasing its popularity.

Anyone paying attention here sees this for what it is: An orchestrated attempt by the established parties and their state media hacks to either 1) weaken the far-right party at the polls or 2) foster the atmosphere in which they can attempt to ban the party. You know. If you can’t beat them, ban them?

Germans Protest Far-right AfD for Third Straight Week Amid Its Spike in Popularity – After a meeting took place to discuss ‘re-migration’ of immigrants from Germany, protesters have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the rising far-right nationalism in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz applauded the demonstrations.

“On the rise”

Always on the rise. For as long as I or anyone else here can remember, on the rise.

Right-wing extremism. It’s always on the rise. Everywhere, but in Germany in particular. Geez. You’d think they would have finally risen to the top by now already. Good thing these warnings are not a classic political/journalistic device used to generate alarm for votes and higher ratings.

Germany’s Scholz says dark neo-Nazi networks are on the rise – Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday voiced concern over the rise of extreme-right tendencies in his country 79 years after the Auschwitz extermination camp was liberated.

It’s not an “on the rise” problem in Germany. It’s an “on the run” problem. The established political parties are slowly getting choked to death. Or, more accurately, slowly choking themselves to death.