But Everybody’s Wearing Masks Here Already

October 18, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: Angela Merkel, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Face Masks, German, Germans, Germany, Infections, Lockdowns, Masks, Restrictions Leave a comment

And the masks work, right? So why does the number of COVID-19 infections in Germany keep rising?

Coronavirus in Germany: Angela Merkel urges people to stay home ‘whenever possible’ – Angela Merkel has called for solidarity as Germany enters a “very serious phase” of the pandemic. Germany has again set a new daily case record, as ministers call for thousands of additional contact tracers.

“The comparatively relaxed summer is over; now we are facing difficult months. How winter will be, how our Christmas will be, will be decided in the coming days and weeks.”

Not Just The Italian Mafia

October 16, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Courts, Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Justice, Law, Law And Order, Mafia, Organized Crime Leave a comment

Any kind of international crime organization you want sees Germany’s justice system as a joke.

Italian mafia sees German justice system as ‘a joke’ – The Italian mafia has hundreds of members in Germany pulling strings in the international drug trade. The latest major trial shows how lengthy legal procedures and lenient verdicts are no match for organized crime.

“Our prosecution system is a joke for mafia groups. In the mafia, they price this in — they expect to face trials and even convictions. But the penalties threatened in Germany are laughably mild. They’re not a deterrent. The mafia isn’t bothered by them.”

The German Population Is Declining?

October 15, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Asylum Seekers, Borders, Demographics, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Immigration, Japan, Migrants, Pandemic, Population Leave a comment

It depends on who you’re counting in Germany – and their birth rates.

German population declines for first time in decade – Pandemic has caused a fall in net immigration in the first six months, federal data show.

Translation: The only population growth in Germany comes from those who are not German. And Germany is like Japan (below)? Sort of. Only the Japanese don’t let anyone into their country. Germans no longer have any control over who comes into theirs.

Germany has long been grappling with a Japanese-style combination of low birth rates, an ageing society and a stagnant population of working-age people, which economists say raises concerns about productivity, growth and public finances in the future.

Germany Tough Now On China?

October 14, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Angela Merkel, Blackmail, Business, China, Dependency, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Huawei, Money, Profit, Trade Leave a comment

Sure they are. And I’ve got some swamp land in Florida I can offer you for next to nothing.

The Germans are bought and they know it.

Merkel’s China Reset Is Mostly Hollow – As the engine of German export growth, the destination of $100 billion worth of German goods last year, and Germany’s biggest overall trading partner, China is not just a large and profitable market. Germans see China as the mechanism for sustaining the only prolonged era of domestic harmony their country has ever known.

German Of The Day: Sperrstunde

October 11, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Curfews, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Pandemic Leave a comment

That means curfew.

The first one in Berlin in 70 years. It’s a good thing that Germany (and the German capital) has this corona thing under control, right?

Coronavirus: Berlin’s first curfew in 70 years kicks in – The German capital has implemented a nighttime curfew in response to a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases. On the first night of the new regulations the mood was somber in the Friedrichshain district, a virus hot spot…

Leaving a Späti — the Berlin colloquialism for a kiosk — a group of friends is struggling to haul a crate of beer outside into the heavy drizzle, joking that they need to stockpile supplies — or, as Germans would say “hamster” — before the new curfew kicks in.

It’s Reassuring To Know That The Germans Always Have Everything Under Control

October 9, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Control, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Face Masks, German, Germans, Germany, Lockdowns, Masks, Pandemic, Restrictions, Risks, Thresholds Leave a comment

Especially when you live in Germany. Take the “coronavirus risk threshold,” for instance. Please.

Hmmm. No longer head of the mask class, Germany? 4,500 new infections yesterday, and rising. Do you have this under control? Does anyone?

Berlin and Frankfurt both hit German coronavirus risk threshold – Germany’s capital and financial capital have both hit the level defined by the government as risky — 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period. It could lead to travel restrictions at home and abroad.

“We must avoid reaching the point where we lose control.”

German Measles?

October 8, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Animals, Bats, China, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, German, German Measles, Germans, Germany, Racism, Wuhan Leave a comment

How racist is that? Next they’ll be calling it the Spanish Flu.

Or, heaven forbid, the China Virus (try googling that, you won’t find it).

Newly discovered viruses suggest ‘German measles’ jumped from animals to humans – The virus that causes rubella, or German measles, finally has company. Scientists had never identified close relatives of the virus, leaving it as the only member of its genus, Rubivirus. But with a report in this week’s issue of Nature, rubella has gained a family. One of its two newfound relatives infects bats in Uganda; the other killed animals from three different species in a German zoo and was found in wild mice living nearby as well.

“Now we know that every disease in the letters of the MMR vaccine has a zoonotic origin.”

Great Pumpkin Finally Discovered

October 6, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Humility, Humor Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Halloween, Linus, Monsters, Peanuts, Pumpkins, The Great Pumpkin Leave a comment

And neutralized. And then given an award.

Finally, some non-fake news we can dig our teeth into.

Monster pumpkin weighing almost 1,600 lbs wins annual prize in Germany – A man from Bavaria has won this year’s award for the heaviest pumpkin grown in Germany, with his winning entry weighing in at a whopping 1,588 pounds (720.5 kilos).

The Great Pumpkin is an unseen character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. According to Linus van Pelt, the Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children. Linus continues to have faith in the Great Pumpkin, despite his friends’ mockery and disbelief.

Number Of Germans Reporting In Sick Has Fallen To Dangerously Low Levels

October 5, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Health, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Employment, German, Germans, Germany, Home Office, Sick, Work Leave a comment

This is a real German dilemma. How do you gracefully call in sick to stay home when you’re already home playing sick in the first place? OK, to avoid being sick. But still.

Coronavirus: Fewer Germans call in sick during pandemic – With many avoiding the doctor’s office and working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, the number of German workers reporting in sick has fallen to below average levels.

“After a record high at the end of March, the number of sick employees insured by TK dropped to a below-average level.”

PS: And this at a time when other folks refuse to call in sick when maybe they ought of sort of should.

€3 Million Might Sound Like A Humble Beginning

October 4, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Corona, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fines, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Regulations, Rules Leave a comment

But the German state governments have only just begun collecting the money. It’s a sum that is certainly ausbaufähig (capable of being developed, i.e. increased).

Coronavirus: German cities issue 35,000 fines to rulebreakers – Germany’s biggest cities have collected more than €3 million in penalties from violators of coronavirus restrictions. Munich and Hamburg, which have been hit hardest by the pandemic, have doled out the most fines.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Germans