Tag Archives: Berlin

Ring in the New Year

December 30, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Or maybe they should call it ring of fire in the New Year.

Are we having cultural enrichment yet?

German and Dutch authorities fear repeat of NYE firework violence – Fireworks are traditionally used to ring in the new year in Germany and the Netherlands, with New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day the only times they can be set off without permission.

But in recent years, celebrations have come under increased scrutiny.

Last year, dozens of police and firefighters were injured during riots in Berlin. Authorities said some were deliberately targeted with fireworks.

Other cities including Hamburg, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen, also saw violence.

I don’t always stop and look at trains…

December 9, 2023 By in Hard Facts, High Art, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Oh wait, yes I do.

The first night train between Berlin and Paris will depart on Monday evening after a nine-year hiatus, plugging a significant gap in Europe’s increasingly comprehensive overnight rail timetable and giving a boost to travellers looking for a realistic alternative to flying…

Demand for tickets is high, with many on the most popular routes selling out minutes after they had gone online.

Gardner said the buzz and the demand was so considerable, that “it’s now as hard to get a place in the compartment of a deluxe sleeping car on the night train from Paris to Berlin as it is to reserve a table at Paris’s best restaurants”

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.

It sure is a catchy little phrase

November 10, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Has a nice ring to it. It’s kind of cute, even.

Sure glad we displayed it on Brandenburg Gate so everyone could see that we displayed it on Brandenburg Gate.

But now it’s back to business. Now it’s time to accuse Israel of genocide. You know, for, well, letting Hamas attack it like that? How dare they fight for survival. Damned Jewish Nazis.

‘Never again is now’: 1938 Nazi pogrom anniversary marked in Germany – ‘Antisemitism is poisoning our society’ says Olaf Scholz at Berlin synagogue that was destroyed 85 years ago and is again target of firebombing.

Thousands demonstrate in Berlin against Hamas terror attacks

November 5, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators in Berlin have expressed their outrage at Hamas’s slaughter of innocent Israelis and their continued rocket attacks on Israel.

Just kidding.

But that is, of course, what should be happening.

In the German capital, thousands of people have taken to the streets in support of Palestinians and to demand a halt to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The rally took place under strict police supervision.

Consequences?

November 3, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany? There are never any consequences here.

It’s just like back home in the Banana Republic itself. Nice try, though.

Germany’s Habeck warns antisemitism bears consequences – Germany’s vice-chancellor has underlined the country’s commitment to the security of the state of Israel. He also condemned a rise in antisemitic incidents and warned some offenders could face deportation.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has spoken out emphatically about antisemitism in Germany — and, in particular, an uptick in hate crimes since the Israel-Hamas war began.

In a video posted online, the Green Party politician also warned that there would be consequences for those who exhibit antisemitic hatred.

So, everybody in the country loses their citizenship, or what?

October 26, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That doesn’t seem fair to me.

Anti-Semites cannot be granted German citizenship under new law – minister.

A law under consideration by the German parliament would mean that people who have committed anti-Semitic acts can never be granted citizenship, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Wednesday.

“Our draft for the new citizenship law, which we will now discuss in the Bundestag, provides a clear exclusion of anti-Semites,” Faeser said in a statement issued after she met with Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor.

More than 2 minutes?

September 25, 2023 By in Hard Facts Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Don’t assume her gender. Like I just did.

You just never know these days.

Tigst Assefa shatters the women’s marathon world record by more than 2 minutes in Berlin – Tigst Assefa broke the women’s world record by more than two minutes Sunday at the Berlin Marathon, as Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s race for the fifth time but couldn’t break his own record.

Ethiopian runner Assefa, the winner in Berlin a year ago, ran the race in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to break the previous women’s record of 2:14:04 set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei at the Chicago Marathon in 2019.

Orange is the new Green

September 18, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hmmm. Looks like oil-based paint to me.

They better make those protestors put everything back in the orange-inal condition.

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Spray-Painted by Climate Activists – Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

“Members of the so-called ‘Last Generation’ sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning,” Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept the protesters from scaling the landmark building. They arrested all 14 protesters at the site and launched an investigation into property damage.

You can never have enough twins

September 15, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

When you’re a twin.

A twin city like Berlin, I mean. Take Moscow. Moscow is one of Berlin’s 18 twins. OK, it was. Berlin had to give it Evil Twin status recently and now its twin city status has been “frozen,” whatever that means.

Maybe that’s why Kyiv will now become Berlin’s next twin. Only the Good Twin. Kyiv is a one of a kind, Good One kind of twin. And needless to say, its twinship with Berlin is Vitali important.

Kyiv, Berlin strike twin town deal as Mayor Klitschko visits – The German and Ukrainian capitals marked their new partnership in Berlin, where Mayors Vitali Klitschko and Kai Wegner met at the Brandenburg Gate. “Together we are much stronger than alone,” said Klitschko.