Nothing will change

The Germans will continue to vote as have; way too Green and way too Red.

And the next coalition government will be just as ineffective as the last one. For whatever mysterious reason, this is what the German electorate wants.

Germany’s likely next chancellor demands migration crackdown after knife attack – Germany’s main opposition leader demanded a sweeping overhaul of migration policy and permanent border controls on Thursday, a day after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested for a deadly knife attack targeting children weeks before federal elections.

Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become chancellor after the Feb. 23 vote, said the attack, which killed a two-year-old boy and an adult passerby, could not become the new normal, saying all “illegal immigrants” should be turned away at the border.

German of the day: Undenkbar

That means unthinkable.

Austria’s ‘firewall’ against the far right collapsed. Could the unthinkable happen in Germany too?

Could Germany go the way of Austria? Could the party of the far right be invited to form a government? What was previously deemed impossible, then revised down to improbable, is now possible. There are two scenarios in which this could happen…

Meanwhile… Two dead after knife attack in Aschaffenburg.

The climate really is changing…

In Germany. When it comes to climate change, I mean.

Endlich (finally).

Germany’s likely next chancellor vows to put economy before climate – Conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz railed against the climate policies of the left-leaning parties he’ll likely have to govern with.

Germany’s economic policies have been “almost exclusively geared toward climate protection” during the reign of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Merz said during a campaign speech in the western industrial city of Bochum on Monday. “I want to say it clearly as I mean it: We will and we must change that.”

German of the day: Cool bleiben

That means to stay cool.

This is very important. Especially when the last thing you are is cool.

Germany: Scholz uneasy over Musk’s support for far-right AfD – Elon Musk’s public endorsement for the far-right AfD has the country’s top leaders worried of undue influence on German democracy ahead of the February snap election.

Scholz on Musk’s attacks: ‘Stay cool’ – Musk, a top adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has been commenting on German politics on his social media platform X for days now.

“Disrespect, defamation and interference?”

Because of a discussion on X?

Discussions with the AfD aren’t allowed in Germany. That’s the real disrespect, defamation and interference.

Musk plans discussion with German far-right leader on X – The live chat with the AfD’s chancellor candidate is proposed as Germany’s political leaders accuse the tech billionaire of election interference…

The German government must clarify “whether the repeated disrespect, defamation and interference in the election campaign were also expressed in the name of the new U.S. government,” Rolf Mützenich, a prominent politician from Germany’s Social Democratic Party, told German outlet Spiegel.

How Germany’s far right won over young voters?

Duh. By not being far left.

Much less far left batshit crazy.

AfD: How Germany’s far right won over young voters – For the first time, 16-year-olds in Germany were able to vote in the 2024 European Parliament elections. The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party’s targeted social media campaign appears to have paid off.

The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) made gains in almost all age groups in the 2024 European elections, but its biggest success was among young people. In the last EU election, in 2019, one in three voters younger than 24 chose the Green Party, and the far-right AfD garnered just 5% of the young vote.

None of the experts can figure out why…

It’s inexplicable. Why on earth would Europeans by voting for the right?

Something seems to bothering the electorate that we professionals in power have not been able to understand. Oh well. I suppose it’s one of those mysteries we will never be able to solve…

In Germany, the EU’s most populous nation, projections indicated that voters had not been dissuaded by the AfD’s scandals as it rose to 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30%.

No, he didn’t

He didn’t “intentionally use a banned Nazi slogan.”

If you watched the clip, and were fair in your judgement, you would agree. If you want to say the words “everything for Germany” is a Nazi slogan you can, of course (they used it), but something tells me uttering these words didn’t originate with them, nor are they the exclusive property of Adolf Hitler & Co.

You don’t have to like this guy or his politics or his political party to see that “the system” is out to get him (and them). The court system has been weaponized here, in other words. Boy oh boy it sure is good to know that that type of thing could never happen in US-Amerika, right?

German far-right leader intentionally used banned Nazi slogan, court rules – Alternative for Germany politician Björn Höcke was fined for uttering a phrase employed by Hitler’s storm troopers.

A leading politician for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has been convicted by a German court of using a banned Nazi slogan — a decision that is unlikely to dissuade the party’s core supporters in its eastern strongholds.

Björn Höcke, who heads the AfD in the eastern German state of Thuringia, was fined €13,000 for closing a 2021 campaign speech with the phrase: “Everything for Germany!”

If you can’t beat them, ban them

Don’t listen to what the electorate actually wants (an end to the migrant madness), the thing that forced them into the arms of the AfD in the first place.

Just label them “undemocratic” (the votes the AfD gets apparently aren’t as democratic as those of the established parties) and then bump them off.

Germany: Court says far-right AfD is suspected of extremism – The move, which upholds a lower-court ruling the party had challenged, means intelligence services can continue to monitor AfD activities and communications…

For years discussions about a ban have surfaced regularly. Critics of the idea say that would simply play into the AfD’s hands by boosting its narrative of victimisation.

Legally it would also be difficult, time-consuming and possibly be rejected by the constitutional court.

But with each new scandal involving the AfD, calls grow louder from all mainstream parties to investigate whether there are at least sufficient grounds to try.