patrick.net

Toom Cooper's take:

It’s Germany’s Fault

Assuming the information is correct and Ukraine attacked the pipeline it must be said that the pipeline immediately became a legitimate target of war for Ukraine when Russia invaded in 2014. Germany being angry or aggrieved pales in comparison to Ukraine fighting off a genocidal war from Russia. NO… that’s not hyperbole.

Germany over the past decades has been dismantling it’s energy infrastructure in an effort to “go renewable” and in doing so became overly reliant on Russia for its energy needs. Particularly: natural gas. This isn’t an article about the pros and cons of realistic energy policy. But it must be pointed out that more than 50% of Germany’s energy is produced from oil or coal.

This is partially a result of closing nuclear power generation resources in Germany and partially the Russians doing a good job in influencing German leaders.




This phenomenon isn’t new.




So, in a very real sense, Germany brought all of this on itsefl. Germany was in a very unique position in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia: it could have made substantive demands of Moscow. It decided not to. Germany was in the same position in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. It did not. Germany knew what Putin’s plans were for Ukraine and all of the former Soviet satellite states. We all knew. He told us all… in Munich, in Germany!

Putin has infiltrated Germany at all levels. Not only because of this, Ukraine has EVERY legal right to defend itself. Including against co-enterprises that consist of an enemy and a ally. Germany was warned and petitioned by Ukraine and other state- and non state actors about building Nord Stream 2. Germany chose to align itself with Putin. This choice, and all choices, have consequences. For Germany (and Austria, the biggest foreign investor into the Nord Stream 2), it’s the loss of billions in pipeline investment and now billions of Euros in aid to Ukraine. (What could a forceful response to the Georgia invasion save the German [and Austrian] economy today?)

There are many reasons Russia went ahead with the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. All major powers have responsibility. The US burning its moral authority in Iraq and Afghanistan. The exit of Afghanistan. The UK and all of NATO hiding under the US military umbrella. But… Germany has the most responsibility. It allowed itself to be subjected to Putin’s influence operations and ignored opportunities to bring Russia in line with more western values. In short, Germany took the money. It opted for short term gains and flattery instead of sound energy and security policy.

No one in Ukraine cares what Germany accuses a few Ukrainians of doing in the goal of defending Ukraine. Nor do I. Nor should you.

https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/germany-accuses-ukraine-of-nord-stream

PS. I still think it was the Reds who dunnit to weasel out of payments for non-delivery when they embarked on "Europe will freeze" campaign. Remember that one?

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/on-the-tunisian-migrants-terrorising

On the Tunisian migrants terrorising Regensburg and the asylum advocates who insist they are merely "people" who "have a right to a better life"

Regensburg is a beautiful city with a well-preserved medieval centre in Eastern Bavaria. Since 2023, they’ve had very serious problems with migrant crime. This is because the city hosts a so-called “Anchor Centre,” or an initial reception facility for asylum applicants. For whatever reason, the Regensburg Anchor Centre receives primarily young Tunisian men who spend their abundant taxpayer-funded free time terrorising the residents.

Here’s a report from February, to give you a taste:

Following the [purported] rape of a 29-year-old woman by Tunisian asylum seekers1 and a school headmaster’s instruction to parents to see that their daughters only “walk to school in groups,” CSU parliamentary representative Peter Aumer has called for a deportation offensive. There have also been repeated daytime robberies by migrants in supermarkets. Earlier, Tunisians had gone on a rampage in the historic city centre on New Year’s Eve and sexually harassed a 33-year-old woman.

Afterwards, the city had the benches in the park … [near] the main railway station dismantled … Migrants had previously met there to harass women.

“We go for a walk in the castle park every day, and for a good six months now we’ve been hearing more people talking in foreign languages,” retired pastor Erhard Schmidt said … “You could see the young migrants trying to sell drugs or burying them in the ground.”

The police confirmed his observations. … Tunisians … comprise the largest group of non-German suspects in crimes around the main railway station in 2023.

While the sexual assault allegations are bad enough, the migrants’ brazen shoplifting has been a particular focal point of public indignation. December 2023 security footage from a local Edeka captured migrants attempting to walk out with literal bags full of stolen groceries; the owner complained of losses totalling 12,500 Euro per month. ...

There are a mere 250 Tunisian asylum seekers in Regensburg right now. They comprise just 0.14% of the population, but they are the second most frequently offending demographic in the city. In 2023, police registered a total of 109 Tunisian offenders, who alone were responsible for 1,000 crimes. ...

I fear that there is no coming back from this kind of pathological self-righteousness, no dissuading the ageing Streitbergers of the Federal Republic from their moral posturing. They’ll go to their graves convinced of their piety, for their folly won’t bear its most terrible fruit until long after they’re dead.

https://x.com/Radio_Genoa/status/1735243812232958274

“You have to understand that he's fleeing from war and hunger, poor thing.”

The asylum seeker enriches Germany and Europe.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/phobic-monday-september-2-2024-c

Fatphobia rears its ugly head! Microagression! Hate! One wonders whether German police will investigate every case where someone calls somebody ‘fat.’ Is calling people ‘fat’ only illegal on social media? If so, why? Why not investigate similar face-to-face offenses? And, are they really as diligent about investigating similar fatphobic hate crimes against civilians, or just against leftist politicians?

In other words, this story is no help to those of us with generous body shapes. It’s just another example of the swelling crackdown on criticism of flabby governments.

The porky comment was posted on Gab. So far, a muscular Gab has refused to cooperate with German police, defying requests to hand over the poster’s identity and banking information. I suppose the next step will be for the porcine Germans to indict Andrew Torba, Gab’s CEO, for “facilitating online hate speech,” vis-à-vis body shaming.

The Fourth Reich was hiding in plain sight and rears itself up from the mire. How dare you call makeup wearing, velvet bathrobe wearing, morphine slamming homo Göring 'fat'.

Patrick says

" https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/phobic-monday-september-2-2024-c "

A criminal investigation for stating a fact? She is fat!

VW Weighs First-Ever Germany Plant Closures to Cut Costs

Volkswagen AG is considering unprecedented factory closures in Germany, setting up a showdown with powerful unions as the country’s most important industry fights for its future.

The potential measures also include trying to end the company’s three-decades-old pact with workers to keep jobs secure, the company said Monday. VW’s main target is its underperforming namesake passenger car brand, whose profit margins are getting squeezed amid a sputtering transition to EVs and a consumer spending slowdown.

Any shutdowns would mark the first closures in Germany during the company’s 87-year history. VW shares closed 1.3% higher after the news, paring this year’s losses of 13%.

“The economic environment has become even tougher and new players are pushing into Europe,” VW Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume said in a statement. “Germany as a business location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness.”

A full-blown labor dispute would be a major test for the CEO — who also heads up the Porsche sports car brand — after union clashes felled a number of his VW predecessors.

Raising returns at the VW brand has become tougher with higher logistics, energy and labor costs. The nameplate’s margin fell to 2.3% during the first half, compared to 3.8% a year ago. The company has also lost momentum in its biggest market, China, with its EV model range far behind competitors, while cheaper Chinese electric cars are pushing into Europe.

The looming clash at one of Germany’s biggest companies threatens a postwar consensus where workers hold significant sway. Decades-old codetermination agreements are coming under pressure as new competitors target Germany’s industrial bedrock and populist parties surge.

On Sunday, election results in two eastern German states delivered another humbling for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and his two coalition partners. The Alternative for Germany party placed second in Saxony, where VW owns an EV-making plant in Zwickau, and won the elections in neighboring Thuringia, the first triumph for a far-right party in a German state ballot since World War II.

“I am deeply concerned that the VW Group management is no longer ruling out plant closures and compulsory redundancies,” SPD lawmaker Bernd Westphal, economic policy spokesman for Scholz’s parliamentary group, told Bloomberg News. “The SPD parliamentary group is firmly on the side of the employees and expects constructive talks” with the works councils and unions.

Supervisory Board

VW employs about 650,000 workers globally, almost 300,000 of which are in Germany. Half the seats on the company’s supervisory board are held by labor representatives, and the German state of Lower Saxony — which owns a 20% stake — often sides with trade union bodies. The setup is part of a labyrinthine governance system where management must gain the billionaire Porsche-Piech family and labor side support for major decisions.

Works council head Daniela Cavallo said VW’s management warned that the brand making the Golf and Tiguan models risks losing money, according to a separate statement. The company is weighing the closure of at least one larger carmaking factory and one component site in Germany, it said, alongside abolishing wage agreements.

VW is also “questioning” the production of a compact electric SUV model at the main carmaking site in Wolfsburg from 2026, key to filling the factory’s capacity, the works council said. The Trinity model, currently planned for Zwickau, is at risk of being delayed.

Volkswagen last year made roughly 9 million vehicles, compared with total capacity of 14 million.

Lower Saxony said it supports VW’s cost-cutting efforts, adding alternative options must be explored in talks with labor representatives.

“We expect that the issue of factory closures will not arise due to the successful use of alternatives,” said Stephan Weil, Lower Saxony premier and VW supervisory board member. “The state government will pay particular attention to this.”

Other Clashes

Previous clashes ended or shortened the tenures of top executives including former CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder, ex-VW brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard and Herbert Diess, Blume’s predecessor as CEO. All three tried to push through efficiencies, particularly at VW’s domestic German operations.

The plans risk worsening the economic malaise in Germany, where industrial companies are reining in investments. VW’s market valuation has sunk to around €51 billion ($56.5 billion), even as the company continues to rake in profits, with operating income of €22.6 billion last year.

Germany’s unpopular ruling coalition government, led by Scholz’s Social Democrats, is beset by infighting with abrupt policy changes wreaking havoc. Last year, the government suddenly removed EV incentives after lawmakers struck down budget plans. Cratering sales in Europe’s biggest car market have been a drag since, wrong-footing a range of major suppliers including Robert Bosch, ZF Friedrichshafen and Continental.

“The automotive industry is facing major challenges worldwide and is undergoing a profound transformation that requires companies to make strategic decisions,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement. “It is essential that companies and management act responsibly and in close consultation with the social partners.”

VW’s plans on further cutbacks follow a July announcement detailing the potential closure of a site in Brussels making electric Audis. The factory has been struggling with high costs and poor demand for the luxury Q8 e-tron, the sole model it produces. At the time, the carmaker cut its outlook for the year, in part because of likely costs involved in shuttering the plant.

The last time VW closed a major car factory was more than 30 years ago, when the company shut down what was then its lone US assembly plant, near Pittsburgh.

The Volkswagen brand has component production sites in Brunswick, Kassel, Salzgitter, Hannover and Chemnitz, as well as carmaking plants in Wolfsburg, Emden, Zwickau, Dresden, Osnabrück and Hannover.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vw-weighs-first-ever-germany-132426112.html

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1831646625074127257

https://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-olaf-scholz-joe-biden-un-politics-afd-vote/

https://x.com/ivan_8848/status/1837623293613887576

Immigration does not work, not even economically’ – German government needs €10 billion more in welfare payments than originally predicted for 2025

The German federal government has “miscalculated” billions in welfare payments, known as citizens’ money, with their initial estimate of €36 billion far short of the €46 billion reportedly needed.

In documents obtained by Bild newspaper, the German labor ministry assumes an average of 2.9 million people are in need of welfare parents in the documents for the “2025 budget,” dated from August 2024. However, this document indicates that the expenditure on standard rates and accommodation costs is expected to total €45.6 billion, which is a far cry from the €36 billion set in the 2025 citizen’s allowance budget.

The huge discrepancy has sparked outrage, but Hubertus Heil’s (SPD) labor ministry told Bild that the figures published “are not comprehensible and are methodologically based on several false assumptions… For example, a significant portion of the costs of accommodation are to be covered by the municipalities and are therefore not relevant to the federal budget in the amount stated.”

However, Heil’s denial did not specify how far off Bild’s figures were, and notably, Bild was citing internal documents from the ministry itself.

The huge sums paid out due to citizens’ money has become a politically explosive subject, first due to the enormous costs it is placing on the German taxpayers, second due to the fact that the German economy is facing a worker shortage, and third due to the huge number of foreigners taking advantage of this welfare system, as half of all recipients are foreigners and many of the others who are German citizens also have a migration background.

“Immigration doesn’t work, not even economically. And if one were to differentiate between Germans based on their migration background, the picture would be even more devastating,” MEP Maximilian Krah, who is a member of the AfD but remains unaffiliated in the European Parliament, wrote on X. He shared a graph showing how few Germans are actually receiving welfare payments.

However, he is not the only one calling into question Heil’s numbers. Most recently, the Federal Audit Office also cast doubt on Heil’s budget, stating that the labor ministry’s figures could only happen as budgeted if “600,000 people entitled to benefits would stop receiving them altogether” in 2025. These experts complained at the time that this was “not very realistic.”

Other parties are also attacking Heil. CDU’s group vice-chairman Jens Spahn said the matter “bordered on deliberate deception.”

Meanwhile, budget spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Christian Haase, said: “Heil is deliberately budgeting for false figures in order to conceal the problems with the citizens’ allowance,”

“This is a scandal,” he added.

CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann said the ruling left-liberal government “continues to lie to itself, the budget will blow up in its face.”

Even the Free Democrats (FDP), who belong to the ruling government, slammed the budget figures. FDP politician Torsten Herbst said he expected “the labor minister to present realistic figures in his draft budget.”

However, some of the harshest statements came from the AfD, which wrote on social media: “Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) suddenly presents a new budget gap of almost €10 billion in the citizen’s allowance. According to the minister’s documents, his department expects citizen’s allowance costs of almost €46 billion for 2025, although only €36 billion were officially reported.”

The party is now recommending mass deportations totaling 1.3 million people to plug the budget hole, which it claims would bring the welfare payments back in line with the original sum budgeted.

“It must be remembered that around half of the citizen’s allowance recipients are foreign citizens! Simply by deporting the approximately one million Syrians (as of the end of 2023) who no longer have a reason to flee, the citizen’s allowance costs could be reduced enormously. The same applies to the approximately 300,000 foreigners who are required to leave the country (as of mid-2024).

“The Federal Audit Office had already cast doubt on the Minister of Labor’s sugar-coated figures weeks ago, stating that the figures would only be correct if the number of citizens’ allowance recipients fell by around 600,000 in 2025. Either Heil really miscalculated in an amateurish way or – which is much more likely – he deliberately wants to mislead the population. In both cases, such a Minister of Labor is completely unacceptable and underlines that the SPD does not care about our country.”

https://rmx.news/article/immigration-does-not-work-not-even-economically-german-government-needs-e10-billion-more-in-welfare-payments-than-originally-predicted-for-2025/

Immigration pays for itself in Canada. It was designed to bring in young workers to bail out Canada's social welfare system. Of course, it has other costs.

But Europe brought in refugees who don't work. Except maybe Ukranians.

DemocratsAreTotallyFucked says

But Europe brought in refugees who don't work.

I don't think they generally work. If they do, they suck at it. Had my buddy fill in my pool. His two guys were complete morons. Broke my fence. Snapped a 3/4" gas line on something I never asked them to take out, and I can speak enough Spanish for them to understand me.

Needless to say I had to shut off the gas to the entire house. My buddy is a dip shit too. Comes in and asks me, "what's that smell?" It's fucking natural gas dip shit. I'll be friends with him, but so many fuck ups on this job. Wife is refusing to pay him the second half. Kind of awkward but we're in agreement until he fixes the mess he made. Electric issues as well. Low voltage. He's probably the worst contractor I know.

If for some strange reason you know someone needing work in IL, I will tell you who to avoid. This guy. Tough as I like hanging out with him, but he sucks at his job. He buys and sells horses as his main income. He's a fun to hang out with idiot if that makes sense.

DemocratsAreTotallyFucked says

"But Europe brought in refugees who don't work."

The Globalist Nazis brought in the refugees, not Europe.

The_Deplorable says

https://x.com/ivan_8848/status/1837623293613887576

Once could be FIB entrapment. Twice and the guy likes tweens.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/10/will-germanys-dithering-dull-scholz-be-biden-ed-by-his-sdp-party/

The_Deplorable says

https://x.com/ivan_8848/status/1837623293613887576

The pedo sounds desperate. Was he ordered to work harder for his rubbles or else some tasty tea will be hand-delivered to him? 😂

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/on-the-constant-unrelenting-and-unhinged

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/zombie-traffic-light-the-german-government

Full video https://x.com/SeibtNaomi/status/1854634340338074095

Good. Sholtz is finally paying the pricer for being weak-ass pussy.

Eric Holder says

Good. Sholtz is finally paying the pricer for being weak-ass pussy.

Yes for not telling zelensky, xiden and the EU to get lost and resuming trade with russia. This war is over, watch how fast z tucks tail and peace and prosperity "erupts"

https://x.com/SeibtNaomi/status/1855738262633283612

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/will-they-ban-alternative-fur-deutschland

Your German lesson today:

#Schwachkopf (pronounced Schv-AHCT-cop-ph) [noun]. Plural is #Schwachköpfe (pronounced Shv-AHCT-koerp-fey)

It means "moron".

Apparently since I took German in High School during the Reaganlithic Era, there is some new rule in German that words posted online that have even a remotest chance of pissing of a German cabinet minister have to have the # immediately attached to the beginning of it.

But elsewhere, omit it as so:



https://www.eugyppius.com/p/schwachkopf

If you have friends in Germany, the police will raid their homes and they could be prosecuted for posting this word. So offer to post them online for them!

https://open.substack.com/pub/econolog/p/made-in-germany

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

The rest says:

For sharing this picture the apartment of a retired person was stormed.

Would you like to live in a police state?

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/why-is-the-green-party-using-activist

Welcoming hundreds of thousands of unemployed foreigners into your country is expensive, particularly because the Federal Republic imposes upon itself the duty to provide all of these newcomers a monthly allowance. Single adults get 460 Euro and married adults get 413 Euro per month, and if any children are living with them they get much more. The cost of this allowance and other services provided to asylees, like housing, runs to the multiple billions every year.

Our refugees transfer a significant part of the money they receive back to their home countries. In 2023, these transfers amounted to an estimated 6.81 billion Euros. In this way and others too, Germany has become a financial resource for large parts of the developing world. The global south must merely send some of their people across our borders to harvest our naive humanitarianism. ...

This brings us to an amazing piece of investigative reporting that Junge Freiheit published at the start of this month. They discovered that left-wing organisations with connections to the Greens are circulating flyers among refugees in Bavaria, which provide instructions on how our indolent recipients of government benefits can convert the value of their prepaid debit cards back into cash...

As you can see, these flyers advise refugees to betake themselves to major supermarkets and buy 50 Euro gift cards, or vouchers. Then, they can take these gift cards to various fly-by-night exchange centres, where our leftist activists promise to coordinate their sale for an equal amount of money. Here are a bunch of refugees lining up outside of the Regensburg Green Party office to do precisely this:




Gift cards are, of course, worth slightly less than their nominal value, so somebody is going to no little expense here, all for the purpose of increasing the amount of untraceable cash refugees have in their pockets. ...

All that remains is one burning question: Why is the Green Party, specifically, so interested in increasing the amount of cash available to refugees? And why are they so eager to disguise their association with these efforts? It smells through and through of corruption.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/amazon-blocks-online-reviews-of-angela