German Of The Day: Ehrenbürger

January 31, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, History, Honor, Language, Paul von Hindenburg Leave a comment

That means citizen of honor.

And now, after 87 years, Berlin’s red-redder-green city government (SPD, the Left Party, the Greens) has decided that Paul von Hindenburg can no longer carry that title.

Liberals everywhere are all the same. They are routinely shocked to discover that historical figures fail to meet their current level of enlightened leftist consciousness and must therefore ridicule their memory with pious outbursts of intoxicating guilt and self-righteous outrage. Otherwise they’re a nice bunch of folks, I’m sure.

Am 20. April 1933 wurde Paul von Hindenburg Ehrenbürger Berlins – am gleichen Tag wie Adolf Hitler. Nun wurde ihm die Ehrenbürgerschaft aberkannt. Er habe dazu beigetragen, die Demokratie in Deutschland zu zerstören.

Who Would Have Thought That Possible?

January 30, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin Film Festival#, Berlinale, Films, German, Germans, Germany, Movies, Nazis Leave a comment

That the film guru in charge of the Berlin Film Festival’s propaganda efforts from 1951 until 1976 was also closely involved with the Nazis’ film propaganda efforts, I mean.

Ex-Nazis in Germany? In the 1950s? How could that be possible?

Will the horrors never cease? First all the crappy movies. Now we find out that the whole shebang is Nazi-verseucht (infected). Let’s call the whole thing off.

The Berlin Film Festival turns 70 this year, but plans for the anniversary celebration have been overshadowed by new revelations that Alfred Bauer, Berlin’s first festival director, had deep ties to the Nazis.

These Wind Turbines Don’t Work

January 28, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humility, Hurt Feelings Tags: Energy Costs, Energy Turnaround, German, Germans, Germany, Renewable energy, Subsidies, Wind Energy Leave a comment

German wind energy is in a crisis – “Five times the amount of wind turbines are needed.”

Like these wind turbines up there, Germany’s energy turnaround just isn’t turning around the way the smart people who planned it planned it. To turn around. Unless turning around and around in circles counts.

A mere 1078 megawatts worth of wind turbines were built last year – nearly 80 percent lower than the 2017 level.

Eine Windkraft-Leistung von gerade mal 1078 Megawatt wird im vergangenen Jahr installiert – fast 80 Prozent weniger als noch 2017.

It’s A Good Thing Germany Has Such Strict Gun Control Laws

January 27, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Gun control, Gun Control Legislation, Guns, Shootings Leave a comment

Otherwise the death toll at this shooting would have been a whole lot higher. I assume.

The shooter did have a gun license, after all.

6 dead, 2 injured after family shooting in Germany, police say – Police were called to the scene of the shooting, in a building near the town’s main railway station, shortly after midday Friday. Some victims were shot inside the train station, while others were shot in a nearby house, local police told ABC News.

The alleged gunman, a 26-year-old man who police said had a gun license, was arrested shortly after the shooting.

Brewed In Accordance With The Rassenreinheitsgebot?

January 26, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Beer, Deutsches Reichsbräu, German, Germans, Germany, Nazis 1 Comment

Oops. Not racial purity, I meant of course Germany’s Reinheitsgebot or beer purity law.

Nazi-branded Beer Sells Out at German Drinks Store – Thuringia police have already established the brand itself is legal.

Images were circulating on German social media on Friday showing a Nazi-branded beer for sale in a drinks store in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The images showed bottles labelled with the name “Deutsches Reichsbraeu,” or German Reich Brew, in a font favored by the Nazis on sale for 18.88 euros.

The numbers 1 and 8 correspond to the second and eighth letters of the alphabet – the initials of Adolf Hitler. The 88 stands for “Heil Hitler.” The new beer brand was announced online at the beginning of the year by a well-known right-wing extremist from the neighbouring state of Thuringia.

Eine Konsequenz gibt es bereits für den Getränkemarkt: Der Franchise-Geber kündigte die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Eigentümer des Geschäfts am Morgen nach eigenen Angaben auf.

What Does SPD Stand For?

January 24, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humility, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Corruption, Deutsche Bank, German, Germans, Germany, Greed, Hypocrisy, Money, Political Parties, Politicians, Sigmar Gabrial, Social Democracy, Socialism, Socialists, SPD, Speculation Leave a comment

Other than Social Democrat Party, I mean. Shekels, Payola and Dough?

Or is it more like Scratch, Plunder and Dinero?

When not fighting for the rights of the working class and alleviating the capitalist economic oppression of the masses, ex-vice chancellor and national chairmen of Germany’s Social Democrat Party Sigmar Gabriel enjoys doing part-time community service work serving on the supervisory board of the freakin’ Deutsche Bank.

It’s understandable. Sort of. He recognized there was a problem with Deutsche Bank years ago (he wasn’t the first, however) and now only wants to take this opportunity to help them clean things up.

“Deutsche Bank, as one of the most important financial institutions in Europe, has the opportunity and the responsibility to help shape the future of the German and European economy. I want to play a part in this.”

58 Percent Female Directors

January 23, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Humor, Hype, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Berlin Film Festival Generations, Berlin Film Festival#, Berlinale 2020, Directors, Film Festivals, Films, German, Germans, Germany, Hollywood, Movies, Quotas, Women Leave a comment

And 97 percent crappy movies. Which is actually down from past years. So keep up the good work or something.

The Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its Generations sidebar lineup, consisting of 59 children and youth films, with 58 percent of the titles, both feature-length and short films, directed by women.

Berlin organizers recently also said that the festival’s co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.

PS: What prevented the token woman from getting her diet coke from the soda machine? She didn’t have enough quotas to pay for it.

More German Oddity 15

January 22, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, History Tags: Berlin, Bombs, Books, eBooks, Germans, Germany, World War II, WWII Leave a comment

Berlin: WWII Bomb Find Leads to Evacuation of Thousands, Including the Mayor – In Berlin’s ‘Mitte’ district, a large WWII bomb was found on a construction site on Tuesday. Police started evacuating thousands of people in the evening. They included Berliners and visitors.

Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller, the Senate and their staff were evacuated from Red City Hall on Tuesday, due to a World War II bomb find. The latter weighs 250 kilos (550 pounds). A bomb disposal unit was supposed to diffuse the bomb this evening, but the evacuation took time.

German Oddity 15. Germany is a place where huge underground bombs are routinely unearthed all around the country and this barely even makes second page news. In fact, most Germans directly affected are more annoyed about it than anything else. They grudgingly leave their homes until the bomb crews have disarmed or detonated the damned things. Over 5,000 bombs are found in Germany every year.

German Of The Day: Die Ewigen Propheten Des Untergangs

January 21, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Climate Change, Davos, Davos Economic Forum, Donald Trump, Doomsday, German, Germans, Germany, Greta, Greta Thunberg, Hysteria, Language, Switzerland 2 Comments

That means the perennial prophets of doom.

Here is an example: Trump calls climate activists ‘perennial prophets of doom’ during Davos economic forum.

“This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good thought process because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action.” I would translate that into German but German just doesn’t have that kind of vocabulary.

„Wir müssen die ewigen Propheten des Untergangs und ihre Vorhersagen der Apokalypse zurückweisen.”

“Adapting” Standards

January 20, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Education, Employment, German, Germans, Germany, Jobs, Language, Police, Requirements, Standards Leave a comment

It’s not just in the United States that standards in education must remain, uh, flexible.

Germany has to keep adapting its standards too. Take Germany’s federal cops. Please.

Germany to lower language requirements for federal police recruits – Facing a shortage of recruits, authorities have reportedly had to “adapt” their standards for the current generation.

In a bid to fill thousands of new positions this year, Germany’s federal police (Bundespolizei) has lowered requirements for recruits, according to a media report published Monday.

The newspapers of the Funke Media Group reported on the changes, noting that physical fitness requirements as well as the language level in exams have been changed.

“We must adapt to the societal changes of young people with relation to the mental and physical requirements for the police profession.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Germans