German authorities are wondering how to deal with a pensioner who stored a World War Two tank, anti-aircraft gun and torpedo in his basement?
Very carefully, I would say.
The items were removed from a house in the northern town of Heikendorf in 2015 with the help of the army.
Prosecutors and defence lawyers are now negotiating possible penalties, including a suspended sentence and a fine of up to €500,000 (£427,000).
The defendant, aged 84, must also find new homes for the monumental items.
I mean, unitards.
What next? Potato sacks? I mean, sex. I mean. sacks. Man oh man this sexualization stuff is all so confusing.
Tired of ‘sexualization,’ German women’s gymnastics team wears unitards – For decades, female gymnasts have worn bikini-cut leotards. In qualifying on Sunday, however, the German team instead wore unitards that stretched to their ankles, intending to push back against sexualization of women in gymnastics.
The Germans could also consider looking to other cultures for inspiration.
That means farewell tour. That’s right. Angela Merkel is farewell touring these days.
And she won’t be satisfied until the tour is over and she has left her party, the CDU, in a shambles as she walks out the door and turns off the light. She has spent the last sixteen years taking the wind out of opposition parties’ sails – through compromizing her own party’s principles – and has not only managed to destroy the SPD (Social Democrats), for instance, she has turned her once conservative CDU into the new SPD. Conservative CDU voters are perfectly aware of this, of course, and the polls for the upcoming election are showing it. And that’s one of the reasons why her hand-picked mini-Merkel-man, Armin Laschet, does not exactly inspire confidence with the German electorate. This election might just get ugly, in other words. But Merkel will be fein raus (gone and off the hook). Can’t wait for books to come out. Not.
Merkels Abschied vom Kanzleramt: Was kommt nach der Bundestagswahl? „Werde mit der Zeit schon was anfangen können.“
No. Not those kind. Although… What’s the difference in the end?
German female gymnasts will choose whether they want to wear full body-suits in Sunday’s qualifications at the Tokyo Olympics after receiving accolades for donning the outfits in the past in a stand against the sexualisation of their sport.
Cell broadcasts and other mobile phone disaster alerts are dangerous. Whoever does the broadcast has your data. You know, like your telephone number? And they could reach you if they wanted to, which is the point. To save your life, for example. But Germans don’t want that. After they save your life what happens then? What happens to the data? Who regulates it? A complete, unauthorized stranger could save your life next and nobody wants that. No, thanks. Data privacy comes first in this country, pal.
German authorities faced pressure on Tuesday to set aside longstanding privacy concerns and send mobile phone alerts directly to people in potential disaster zones following the devastation wrought by last week’s catastrophic floods.
Warnung per “Cell Broadcast”: Viele Länder setzten auf das System, das per Mobilfunk in Sekunden fast die komplette Bevölkerung erreichen kann. Deutschland aber wählte eine andere Technologie.
Not that anybody has installed it. But still.
After the German Deluge, a Flood of Political Recriminations – The Federal Office for Citizen Protection and Disaster Assistance did issue alerts on its app about coming floods, say officials. But critics say that a very small fraction of the German population has downloaded the app on their smartphones and that a much louder warning should have been sounded to allow local communities to better prepare for the deluge of midweek rain.
“For so many people to die in floods in Europe in 2021 represents a monumental failure of the system.”
That means war zone.
‘Like a war zone’: Stunned Germans count cost of floods – Residents of one small village wander through its ruins looking shell-shocked, scared and exhausted.
“At 11:30 p.m., there was only a little water, 1:00 am, everything was underwater.”
That means space command.
Germany establishes new military space command – The German military has announced the creation of a separate command dedicated to space, becoming the latest of a handful of nations prioritizing more resources and missions among the stars.
“The military is responding to the increasing significance of space for our state’s ability to function, the prosperity of our population, and the increasing dependency of the armed forces on space-supported data, SERVICES and PRODUCTS.”
PS: For some strange reason this wasn’t covered in the German news yesterday.
Shanghai, Germany.
Tesla is expected to start European deliveries of its China-built Model Y SUVs in a few weeks.
The first vehicles will be handed over to customers in Germany in August, the German news agency dpa reported, citing an official Tesla communication.
The vehicles will be exported from Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.
Tesla originally planned to start production of the Model Y in July at its new European factory in Gruenheide near Berlin, with deliveries scheduled to begin in the third quarter, but the plant’s production start has been delayed to the end of this year or early next year.
Germany’s COVID19 incidence rate — the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over a seven-day period — rose for a fifth day in a row, coming in at 6.2 compared to 5.8 on Saturday.
The incidence rate a week ago was 5, according to the RKI.
That means, well, what does that mean? Other than who cares? Just a few weeks ago German health officials were dreaming of one day reaching an incidence rate below 50. Then the world would be in order again.
But that was then and this is now so I guess we’re heading for the next big lockdown. Cool.
Observing Hermann 