German Of The Day: Alleingang

That means going it alone.

This guy still lives in the real world. And can do simple arithmetic. So he doesn’t have a chance in hell. Good luck anyway.

Bavaria mulls reopening nuclear plant under state control – Hours after Germany closed its last three nuclear power plants, one state premier has sought powers to partially reverse the decision. A law change would allow Bavaria to operate the Isar 2 power station, he said.

“Mugged By Reality”

That’s a great way to put it. But hey. It’s what the Germans want.

Nobody else gets it, of course. Personally, I think it’s just good old-fashioned German megalomania again. Only this time they’re saving the planet instead of conquering the world.

Germans Are Getting Mugged by Reality of Green Energy (the last German nuclear reactors are being shut down tomorrow).

“The impact [of the energy crisis] is easy to say, I just have a lot less money. I now pay a quarter more in electricity since the Ukraine war started. The annual Warmmiete [warm rent] that I pay, which covers rent, heating, and hot water, is now 20% higher, not including the additional costs I have to pay at the end of the year. There are some people using only natural gas as a heating source who are paying 55% more.”

This Isn’t A Joke

Gun and/or knife controllers never joke. And there is a certain logic to it.

But once you outlaw knives, shouldn’t you consider outlawing sticks and stones and pressure cookers and umbrellas too? Or, if you really want take that big leap and finally get it over with, why not just outlaw people who want to harm or kill other people? Oh, that’s right. You already have. Well, what if you outlaw them twice?

German police calls for knife-free zones in cities – Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the federal police are calling for more weapon-free zones on trains and in inner city areas in a bid to tackle knife crime.

“We should think about banning knives on public transport, on buses and trains,” Faeser told the Funke Media Group. “After all, anyone traveling by plane is not allowed to take a knife with them.” Apart from increasing security measures on public transport, Faeser said another solution could be weapon-free zones in certain urban areas.

Boost Your Defense Industry

Not your defense.

That’s how it’s always been in today’s Germany. Search here (in the upper left) for “beautiful German weapon sale” to get just a few examples.

Thanks to Putin, Business Is Booming for Germany’s Defense Contractors – As governments rearm in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German arms industry is a prime beneficiary, and that’s making some of the public uncomfortable.

PS: Happy Good Friday to that.

German Of The Day: Schicht

That means shift. As in shift work.

Tesla is reportedly looking to add a fourth production shift at Giga Berlin in Germany to double production in hopes of meeting a manufacturing rate of 500,000 vehicles annually.

Tesla has already ramped up its third shift, which helped the automaker obtain a weekly production volume of 5,000 vehicles per week, it confirmed in late March.

Managing Director Jochem Freyer from the employment agency in Frankfurt confirmed to rbb24 that Tesla has filled all of its openings for the third shift, and now the company is considering a fourth shift, which could help the company double its production output from 5,000 vehicles per week to 10,000.

German Of The Day: Schlechte Laune

The good news? Germans still have schlechte Laune (they’re still in a bad mood).

The bad news? They’re not in as bad a mood as they ought to be.

German consumer morale slows down on path to recovery – German consumer sentiment is set to nudge up in April as energy prices have relented somewhat from record highs, though a full recovery is not in sight anytime soon, showed a GfK institute survey on Wednesday.

The institute forecast its consumer sentiment index to improve to -29.5 heading into April from a revised reading of -30.6 in March, slightly below the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters of -29.0.

German Of The Day: Volksentscheid

That means referendum.

You know, like the one Berliners are voting on today; to make Berlin “climate-neutral” by 2030? I think they should hold one on free beer and ponies for everybody too. That’s more realistic.

Berlin votes on climate neutrality by 2030 – Berliners will go to the polls yet again on Sunday to vote in a referendum to make the German capital climate neutral 15 years earlier than planned. Critics deride the proposal as too costly and completely unrealistic.

All Quiet On The Academy Awards Front

Still.

Does anybody watch that Scheiße anymore?

Germans Are Right to Hate All Quiet on the Western Front – The Academy loves Netflix’s pandering war porn. Its homeland knows better.

Take Schlammschlacht, for instance, which means mudslinging or mud fight, and ends with the German word for battle which also evocatively happens to be the root word for slaughter. Schlammschlacht, by itself, is the headline of Hubert Wetzel’s blistering review in the venerable Süddeutsche Zeitung, describing the weather conditions in which most of the film’s slaughter take place, and, presumably, also the filmmakers’ treatment of a literary treasure…

German Of The Day: Austritt

That means to leave, exit, resign. You know, like the ever-rising number of Germans leaving the two once big German Catholic and Lutheran state churches (church tax retained and distributed by the state)? No one can figure out why.

German Synodal Way backs same-sex blessings and transgender priests…

They also voted for the normalisation of lay preaching and also agreed to ask the Holy See to “re-examine” the discipline of priestly celibacy.

Old-time religion this is not. Just roll over and die and get it over with.