Tag Archives: Germany

Po’ Folks

November 16, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That face you make when you can’t spend as much of other people’s money as you’d planned.

German court deals 60 billion euro budget blow to Scholz government – The German government froze major spending pledges focused on green initiatives and industry support on Wednesday after a constitutional court ruling on unused pandemic emergency funds blew a 60 billion euro ($65 billion) hole in its finances.

The decision threw into disarray budget negotiations taking place this week within Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way ruling coalition, whose popularity has slumped as Europe’s biggest economy teeters close to another recession.

Are you serious?

November 15, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

About getting serious?

Don’t take that nonsense seriously, folks. I’m serious.

Wind of change: Germany gets serious about plans to make military ‘fit for war’ – The return of full-scale armed conflict to Europe has Germany dramatically reframing its security policy.

With Russia and Ukraine still locked in combat after nearly two years and a major Israeli-Palestinian conflict underway, the European Union and NATO are feeling their way into a chaotic new world security order – and Europe’s largest economy is shaking up decades-old ideas on what its military is actually for.

I’ll bet you ten bucks those statistics are wrong!

November 14, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hypochondria Tags: , , , Leave a comment

OK then. How about twenty bucks?

Germany: 4.6 million adults addicted to gambling or at risk – After a new report revealed the extent of gambling addiction in Germany, a government minister has called for measures including a ban on sports betting advertising on television before 11pm.

Approximately 1.3 million adults in Germany suffer from a gambling disorder and a further 3.3 million show initial signs of gambling addiction, according to a new report presented by the country’s Federal Drugs Commissioner Burkhard Blienert on Monday.

According to “The Gambling Atlas,” which draws on data compiled in 2021, 30% of German adults gamble. The figure represents a reduction on the 55% calculated in 2007, but the report nevertheless found that 7.7% of adults suffer financial, social or health problems associated with addition.

German of the day: Zusammenbruch

November 13, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means collapse.

German homebuilding collapse threatens wider economic damage – Once-thriving residential construction industry has slumped, posing drag on EU’s largest economy.

Across Germany, homebuilders are facing such a sharp reversal in their fortunes that the downturn in residential construction is threatening to have broader repercussions across Europe’s largest economy.

Many have declared themselves insolvent, dampening Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s target of building 400,000 new homes a year to tackle a housing affordability crisis in several of the country’s largest cities.

It’s not like we’d ever use the money for our own defense…

November 12, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

You know. To get “fit for war?”

Germany Set to Double Its Ukraine Military Aid Under Scholz Plan – SPD-led coalition parties agree on funding boost to €8 billion. Germany is Ukraine’s biggest military backer in Europe.

If approved by the parliament in Berlin where Scholz’s parties hold a majority, the boost would lift Germany’s defense spending beyond the 2% of gross domestic product target pledged by all North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, according to the people.

He’s just talking the talk

November 8, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Wait and see. “Good” Germans never walk the walk.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz agrees ‘historic’ stricter migration policy – Move comes hours after Italy unveils plan to build asylum reception centres in Albania for those arriving by sea.

Stricter measures to deal with a large number of migrants arriving in Germany have been agreed by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and state leaders, as NGOs criticised Italy’s plans to create centres in Albania to accommodate asylum seekers.

After a marathon session of talks in Berlin that continued into the early hours of Tuesday, Scholz said the measures would help speed up asylum procedures, restrict social benefits for migrants, and provide more federal funding for local communities.

Too challenging?

November 7, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

I don’t doubt that for a moment.

There are so many “too challenging” things in today’s enlightened leftist world already, don’t you think? Remembering the past belongs in the past. Or some things do, anyway. It’s not like that type of thing could ever happen again today.

Germans rename Anne Frank daycare centre to avoid upsetting immigrant children – Parents and staff said the name of the Dutch Holocaust victim was too ‘challenging.’

A German daycare centre named after Anne Frank has been renamed to avoid upsetting children from immigrant backgrounds.

The building in Tangerhütte, Saxony-Anhalt, is to be rebranded “Weltentdecker” (Explorers of the World) to spare local children from being exposed to the thorny issue of the Shoah and the murder of six million Jews.

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.

“Lost its luster?”

November 2, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s called being confronted with reality.

This is a classic German Green phenomenon. As soon as they’re given power, they promptly proceed to shoot themselves in the foot by proposing “solutions” to non-existent problems that “regular folks” simply can’t understand, much less afford. They’ve been given enough rope, in other words.

How Germany’s Greens Lost Their Luster – The party was riding high when it entered the government two years ago. Now it is stumbling, blamed for driving voters to the far right.

What a difference two years make. And a Russian invasion of Ukraine. And rising energy costs. And a host of missteps that some even within the party concede has stalled the Greens’ momentum.

Today the Greens are widely viewed as a drag on the government of the Social Democratic chancellor, Olaf Scholz, which one poll gave a mere 19 percent approval rating. The Greens have drawn withering attacks from even their own coalition partners. To their opponents, the Greens have overreached on their agenda and become the face of an out-of-touch environmental elitism that has alienated many voters, sending droves to the far right.