Germany

How will Die Mannschaft fare in the FIFA World Cup? Some have them at 6-1 odds, behind Argentina at 5-1, and host/favourites, Brazil, at 3-1.

Time will tell!

[url=http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/abandoned-german-care-home-is-the-eeri... German Care Home Is The Eeriest Thing You’ll See Today[/url]

unheimlich!

[url=http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/90-cows-exploded-a-barn-in-germany-... Cows Exploded A Barn In Germany With Their Farts[/url]

Current events!

Never heard of Thuringia, myself. But it sounds like an interesting political development ....

German leftists agree historic deal to rule in Thuringia
 
Leftist parties in Germany have agreed a historic coalition deal which will see the first far-left regional president since the fall of communism.

Bodo Ramelow of the socialist Die Linke (Left party) is set to become state premier of Thuringia next month. Die Linke, rooted in the old East German state Communist party, has never led a state government. But all three coalition parties said they saw East Germany as a state that did not operate within the rule of law. .... The real significance of this new left-wing government is not a sign of a rise of the radical left. Overall support for Die Linke has not risen dramatically over the past few years. Rather, it is proof that the long-fragmented left is getting its act together, and is able to break taboos to co-operate.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30124725

NorthReport wrote:

Sounds like he was a courageous man. RIP

German President Who Challenged Holocaust Attitudes Dies at 94

FILE - Germany's former President Richard von Weizsaecker attends a news conference in Berlin, Feb. 3, 2010.

 

http://www.voanews.com/content/germany-von-weizsaecker-obit/2622738.html

Was that when he was awarded the Iron Cross during WWII, or defending his father's membership in the SS?

"Yes I Am An Islamophobe!'

http://youtu.be/90jcFnRYQRw

Frankfurt Pegida Demo

Germany detains Al Jazeera journalist on Egyptian warrant:

http://gu.com/p/4axpa/sbl

German town receptive to immigrants:

http://gu.com/p/4bh57/sbl

German Media and Politicians Demand State Powers in Response to Cologne Assaults

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/11/colo-j11.html

"The German government has moved rapidly to use alleged sexual assaults by refugees on New Year's Eve in the city of Cologne as a pretence to strengthen the state apparatus and crack down on asylum seekers..."

I wonder is Goslar (above) is still as receptive to refugee masses?

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/world/angela+merkel+says+germany+los...

A Brutal New Germany: What's Happening To My Country?

https://newcoldwar.org/a-brutal-new-germany-whats-happening-to-my-country/

"...Germany has all the resources it needs to manage the crisis without surrendering its civility. Instead the mood in the country is akin to a drunken rage of the kind last seen in the beer halls of the 1920s Weimar Republic - that period of crude, uncivilized behavior that paved the way for Hitler's rise and the most brutal decade in world history."

Welcome to the 'Empire of Chaos'. Rightwards Ho!

Yes, and Germany's NDP isn't helping either...

German Left Party Joins Anti-Refugee Campaign

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/15/left-j15.html

Left Party parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht joined in the far-right campaign of agitation against refugees and called for police state measures on Monday.

The call for more police is now widespread within the Left Party It is even more despicable when Wagenknecht seeks to play off refugees against workers, the unemployed and poor. Over recent months, she has repeatedly claimed that refugees could be used as downward pressure on wages.

On Monday, she asserted that refugees would intensify the problems on the property market. 'If the politicians don't finally begin to have affordable housing built on a large-scale, rents will continue to increase.' This was not an 'irrational but rather a fully understandable fear.'

Wagenknecht's statements demonstrate how right-wing and degenerate The Left Party is..."

NDPP wrote:

Yes, and Germany's NDP isn't helping either...

 

German Left Party Joins Anti-Refugee Campaign

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/15/left-j15.html

Left Party parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht joined in the far-right campaign of agitation against refugees and called for police state measures on Monday.

The call for more police is now widespread within the Left Party It is even more despicable when Wagenknecht seeks to play off refugees against workers, the unemployed and poor. Over recent months, she has repeatedly claimed that refugees could be used as downward pressure on wages.

On Monday, she asserted that refugees would intensify the problems on the property market. 'If the politicians don't finally begin to have affordable housing built on a large-scale, rents will continue to increase.' This was not an 'irrational but rather a fully understandable fear.'

Wagenknecht's statements demonstrate how right-wing and degenerate The Left Party is..."

Worrying stuff indeed. I'm not a big Merkl fan, but she's been preaching acceptance better than most politicians. 

Wouldn't the Social Demcorats count as the German equivalent of the SPD? No other party is willing to form a coalition with the Left Party, since it descends in part from East Germany's formerly ruling communist party. (Which is why there's no Social Democrat + Green + Left government, even though one could have been formed with a majority in parliament.) 

And speaking of getting raked over the coals, Koeln's mayor is also getting it for her suggestion that women should be careful of foreign men:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cologne-mayor-warns-sex-atta...

(edit)

The SPD did form coalitions with Die Linke (when they were the PDS) in state governments.

What Germany does to fight Nazis:

http://needleberlin.com/2017/08/20/what-germany-does-to-fight-nazis/

Perhaps you need to have had the same experiences to take the same measures.

Latest polls show the CDU/FDP combination won't win enough seats to form a majority.

Hey, at least every vote counted! 

Well, I think it does raise a reasonable question about PR in Canada.

We've all heard that, if we had PR, the Greens would get 12 more federal seats, and the NDP would get 14 more federal seats and so on.  But what if, once that happened, politics stabilized around it?  What if each election year a small handful of seats swapped back and forth, but generally we just centred around (say) 35% Liberal, 25% Conservatives, 20% NDP, 12% GPC and 8% other parties or wild cards?

I'm not saying this to say "this is why we cannot have PR" or anything like that.  But I wonder whether people sometimes think PR is going to usher in some new and endless era of progressive success.  What if it just means parties cutting endless deals with the Liberals?

Mr. Magoo wrote:

We've all heard that, if we had PR, the Greens would get 12 more federal seats, and the NDP would get 14 more federal seats and so on.  But what if, once that happened, politics stabilized around it?  What if each election year a small handful of seats swapped back and forth, but generally we just centred around (say) 35% Liberal, 25% Conservatives, 20% NDP, 12% GPC and 8% other parties or wild cards?

I'm not saying this to say "this is why we cannot have PR" or anything like that.  But I wonder whether people sometimes think PR is going to usher in some new and endless era of progressive success.  What if it just means parties cutting endless deals with the Liberals?

Then that'd be a fair reflection of the way Canadians vote. If the Liberals become so toxic that voters punish parties for cutting deals with them, parties won't cut deals with them. The German Social Democrats have lost a substantial chunk of their vote after participating in a grand coalition with the CDU. If, under PR, the NDP goes into permanent coalition with the Liberals, and the NDP base doesn't approve, we're free to go off and form the Socialist Party, no panic over "vote-splitting", and then the establishment learns they can't take the base for granted -- much as the German Social Democrats are looking to go into opposition after this election, lest they vanish entirely in the next one.

If the idea's to favour outcome over process -- that our ideal electoral system should be one that delivers the leftmost government under all circumstances -- perhaps PR isn't ideal. I have a rather more fundamental belief in electoral fairness, though, which means that even if 70% of Canadians end up voting for Harperite parties, they should be accurately represented in Parliament.