On the one hand, the German speech prosecutions I’ve been chronicling are not without their humorous side, and I think it is important to laugh at these things.
Just make sure you enunciate clearly because if you mumble while telling them you put your data in "the cloud" and the police hear it as "the clown" they'll pile on extra charges for insulting Habeck right in front of them!
You ought to buy a small lakeside cottage in the more sensible areas of the mostly-sensible small state I live in and then you can invite me for tea and picnics and I'll bring you some of those blondies. Your time in America was all spent in the wrong place. From the photos you post you'd feel quite comfy here. And then you can exert your needed influence to help keep intelligent but sometimes too credulous people from tipping all the way over to the moron side.
Sometimes I have this awful, awful fear that if we ever all got together in one big backyard we'd discover some horrible truth that physical distance is the magic charm to keep friendships happy and fresh.
Move to Hungary; the Duran's Alexes are there now, and I wouldn't doubt that Hungary is the safest place in all of Europe (or Slovakia) to express freedom of speech.
While we’ve got an open thread, any thoughts on Joe Biden apparently trying to start WWIII on his way out the door? I have a hard time believing that it is the Ukrainians targeting those missiles that are being lobbed into Russia.
No way is it the Ukes doing the heavy lifting on this.
There are US soldiers, US contractors, and NATO types doing all the work. First of all, all the weapons systems are in English and the Ukes use the Cyrillic alphabet. Can't even fudge the directions.
I just saw on Twitter that Russia just fired a long range missile into Ukraine, probably a MIRV (there was a short video of multiple explosions). Supposedly, this kind of missile usually has nuclear warheads, but those were removed for this test? warning? shot.
These days you just don't know what to believe, so…
I think it's more likely that Russia will try to deploy a FOAB or other type of thermobaric weapon before a real nuclear weapon.
If and when, seismographs in Eastern Europe will pick up the detonation.
It's quite likely that Russia is having problems with their nuclear arsenal, given how sensitive and expensive the systems are, and how corrupt the Russian military is.
An interesting point one of the commenters made was that the West could detect the launch and would have to assume it was nuclear until it actually landed. Maybe Russia was hoping for some heart attacks.
I don't know enough about this to comment intelligently, as you can see 😐
That would depend on the size of the carrier-missile, I think.
And what if satellite-systems detected a launch of an SS-18 'Satan'? Not as if anyone could anything about it.
But: Russia has fewer than 60 of those missiles left (from over 300 during the Cold War), and it would be rather unnecessary to launch something designed to leave the atmosphere, cross over the North Pole, and then strike multiple targets in the USA when Russia shares a border with Ukraine.
More likely it was something that was going to be scrapped anyway and it was sabre-rattling meant to scare the EU into pleading with their US paymasters.
Aha, there we go. "I can hit your house from here, Zelensky" and "Joe, I see your ATACMS and raise" all in one go.
Plus "Go F yourselves" to EU-leaders and the UK's former PM.
Now, Putin will let our media whip up a heady panic for a few days, and on Sunday evening he'll reiterate Russia's desire for peace-talks after the White House-circus gets done deciding how it's going to respond.
Or I'm dead-wrong again, always at least 50% odds of that.
Yeah, Dnipro got hit with what looks like 6 sets of 4 warheads each. RS-24 Yars (Proper ICBM) seemed a good first guess, but apparently it was some new intermediate range system called Oreshnik, presumably also something that would normally carry nukes.
Unlikely a "MIRV", which stands for "Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle". The "re-entry" being "from space". You don't use rockets like that to bomb places *near* you. I suppose it might conceivably make sense as a means to test the launch capacity, but it's not a very good test if you aren't actually trying to make it to space.
Could have been a multi-warhead SRBM ("Short Range Ballistic Missile") though. That'd make a lot more sense, and would likely have made butts all over Europe pucker.
And I take (mild) umbrage with that use as well. ;)
But it's probably me being pedantic in a way that only other rocketry fans are going to really care about. And who knows, maybe it actually does exceed the official cap into LEO and therefore become a MIRV instead of essentially just a fancy-pants cluster munition. Russia is a remarkably large country, I had been thinking in terms of "Distance from Moscow to Kyiv" and thinking that didn't make a lot of sense for a trans-atmospheric capable delivery system. But depending on where the launch site is (I haven't looked on a map, yet) it might actually make sense.
Oh, absolutely. That's the point I've been making ever since I finally came to my senses a few months after the invasion. (I had been working for a Ukrainian based startup at the time, so I had personal reasons to be upset at the event. My brain did eventually regain it's equilibrium. In fact, I know there are old comments of mine here that were made within the throes of "Ukraine Derangement Syndrome". ;) ) NATO moving into Ukraine is essentially the Cuban Missile Crisis on the Taiga. We didn't put up with that. There was no chance they would either. And yes, we'd been saying for a very long time that we wouldn't do that, and kept doing it anyway.
Of course, I've also thought that once the USSR fell, we should have handed the keys to NATO over to the EU and said "OK, boys, we're going home. Drive safe. Don't make us come back over here." and then *done it*. Not that the MIC were likely to allow that to happen, far too much money to be made otherwise.
I understand why the Eastern European countries wanted to join NATO, and the EU. Russia spent a very long time doing lots of very bad things to them, and that all starts *way* before the Cold War. But we should have known better.
Either that or we should have said "OK" when *Russia* asked to join NATO... but it would have been far better still to assume that the UK, France, and Germany had actually learned something in the preceding 50 years, and gotten the fuck out of Dodge.
I just listened to this interview with Jeffrey Sachs for the second time. It looks like he's getting a lot of frustration off his chest. https://youtu.be/VWYZpF2ngnc
' And yes, we'd been saying for a very long time that we wouldn't do that, and kept doing it anyway.' Very reminiscent of how we honored Indian treaties in the 1800s.
'Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Russian strike in Ukraine was carried out by a new non-nuclear ballistic missile, which has a medium range.
'“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the Ukrainian defense industry,” Putin said in a televised statement.
'“In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was also tested,” Putin said, apparently referring to the strike on Dnipro. “In this case, with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment. Our missilemen called it ‘Oreshnik.’ The tests were successful. The launch goal was achieved.”'
So, be very afraid of the 6 AM knock at the door. Crazy how the Germans just cannot keep their inner Nazi from popping out. Sure they will have Nazism again, except this time it will come disguised as "social justice."
One of the interesting nuggets you brought up when describing the structure and functioning of the German government was how, regardless the will of the individual nation’s governments comprising Europe, was how they can be dramatically hamstrung by their overlords at the EU and it’s overarching policies.
That’s a huge problem for any European nation that wants to break free of the especially destructive green and immigration mandates, just for two big examples.
I can’t help but feel that European nations, not just Germany, are going to have to experience a great deal of truly excruciating pain if they’re ever going to wake up and free themselves from the insanity that’s brought them all to brink of ruin.
Yeah, but unlike much of Europe, we have air conditioning. The woke clowns will NEVER get that away from us.
In fact, we double down on the cold. If it's 80F out, our retail establishments take that to mean they must set the AC temperature to 65F. If it gets up to 90F then subtract another 5 degrees and make it 60F inside.
Here in Georgia, we got big ass, coal fired power plants making AC great again. And if the environmental Nazis manage to squelch any of those coal fired behemoths, we got a new nuke now to pick up the slack. Don't tell the Germans though, the pearl clutching greens will stroke right out... Oh wait, go ahead.
I got into an argument with a eurocuck in the comments of a different blog once. They were dunking on Americans for driving everywhere instead of walking or taking public transit.
Except, North American has weather extremes that Europeans can only dream of. Going from memory, the gist of my comment was:
I grew up in a city where, from November to April, the _high_ temperatures outside are about -15C (5F) and overnight lows are -40C (-40F). I now live in a city where, from June through October, the daily highs are around 40C (104F) and lows are 26C (80F)
-40C, which my hometown hits probably 30-50 times a year, is colder than the coldest temperature ever recorded in any major European city. Meanwhile, +40C, which my current city hits probably 70-100 times a year, is hotter than the hottest temperature ever recorded in any major European city.
It's really easy to walk a mile to the train station when the weather is mild. But, both where I grew up and where I live now, walking a mile outside without properly preparing for it can kill you. The European mind cannot comprehend this!
And, to be clear, while you can pry my car from my cold dead hands, I hate driving. I used to live in San Francisco, and one of the very few good things I can say about that city, is that it's fuckin' awesome to never have to drive anywhere. Never have to gas up my car. Never have to pay for parking. Never have to worry about my car getting broken into. But, well, that kind of city is reasonable when it's pleasant to walk outside. It is not reasonable when it is life-threatening to walk outside
Going to object to this a bit: 1/4 of my nation is in the Arctic. It's people from the central parts - and the cities where 90% live - that don't "get it". I'm at the same latitude as the Great Slave Lake, more or less.
Here, -30C at night from December to March isn´t special, and I'm in the middle of Sweden, inland cozying up to the fjells. Imagine how it is up North where Finland, Norway and Sweden meet and there's nothing but small hillocks between you and the actual Arctic ocean.
Greece, Albania, Jugoslvia (I aint' writing out all the names of their nations!), southern Italy, Spain - they all experience +40C in Summer.
What's different from the US is of course, we're /different / nations and not one, plus most people are citydwellers (and for some reason jealous of America, something I really don't get).
Again, you've been talking to city-grubbers, I'd wager. Right now, it's a balmy -8C outside.
> Going to object to this a bit: 1/4 of my nation is in the Arctic.
I suspect "_major_ city" is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the research I did. I also suspect that, in my half remembered comment I made several years ago, I was thinking "Hajnal-line Europe" when I said "Europe" so apologies to all the Slavs and Balkans.
The more impressive criticism I got was 'what about Asia, where it's hot as balls and incredibly humid in the southeast Asian jungle nations' and the only response I have to that is "I bet if it was economical and practical for all of those Asian citizens to have private air-conditioned vehicles, they'd prefer them"
My deeper point, which is still directionally correct, is that America faces a unique set of challenges that most Europeans who criticise us just fundamentally don't know about. They don't face them in their own lives.
I mean, to roll on transit for a bit, every American knows exactly why our major cities don't have European-style transit systems. It's because if we did, they'd all be soaked in urine and you'd have a 15% chance of getting stabbed and robbed on them, because of, er, _unique factors not present in Europe_ we should say. Europe still has the ability to police quality of life, but we can't do that here because das rayciss.
Like seriously, the new york subway system has some absurdly high rate of fare jumping. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would imagine that in most European countries, people actually pay for the subway when they ride it. You can do a lot of great things with public infrastructure when people don't steal from it.
Also: "Americans think 400 years was a long time ago. Europeans think 400 kilometers is a long way away."
I live in Albuquerque, and the next closest "major" city in each cardinal direction is over 400 km. And "major" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there as well, insofar as three of them are Amarillo, El Paso, and Flagstaff. ;)
What Warmek says about distance/time certainly is true, as an underlying way of thought I think. On the other hand, the closest metropolis (+500 000 inhabitants, and there's another difference between European nations and USA too - the sheer size of some of your city-areas) is about 450km away.
But I'm in the country, and in my parts we're fewer than 1person/sqkm statistics-wise.
As for the many-hued factors of public transport, well that was true until ca 25 years ago (Sweden), other nations have been catching uo though and now Greens, Reds and femifascists are demanding "Women Only" trams, subway cars and buses in the major cities.
No mention of any characteristics of the problem-people except their alleged sex/gender. . .
As I'm fond of saying, I can put seagulls in my chicken coop but it won't make'em into hens.
I was also pondering the risk to you, although your language is carefully balanced. But if that English speaking German officer (plural?) who knows about substack gets round to you ...
As one alternative to modern electrics, I recommend a proper brush and razor for shaving. Then at least that is one area they cannot annoy you ... unless they confiscate the razor.
You may have an eccentrically toothed health minister, but consider two US “pictures of health”: that of General “Rachel” Levine alongside one of RFK Jr in full exercise mode.
That reminds me of the story of a politician who was campaigning on an Indian reservation in the United States to a tribe of Native Americans gathered in a cow pasture. During his speech he promised them that if he were elected he would work to better their standard of living, and everyone yelled out "Oompa!" He smiled and promised he would ensure their right to hunt on their native lands was preserved, and they all yelled out "Oompa!" He promised to help pass legislation to allow gambling on their lands and they shouted "Oompa!" Pleased with the response, he said he would make sure they had better nutrition and better education, and in unison they yelled out "Oompa!" He was very happy with the Native Americans' enthusiasm. As he walked back across the pasture to his limousine with the Indian chief at his side, the chief pointed and said," Be careful, don't step in the oompa."
Courageous citizen-journalists like you will always be welcome here. Though the only word I know in German is the one represented by the Notorious Poop Emoji™ ;-)
I'm glad you're taking some precautions. And don't forget, you will get a lot of support from your readers here.
Just make sure you enunciate clearly because if you mumble while telling them you put your data in "the cloud" and the police hear it as "the clown" they'll pile on extra charges for insulting Habeck right in front of them!
You ought to buy a small lakeside cottage in the more sensible areas of the mostly-sensible small state I live in and then you can invite me for tea and picnics and I'll bring you some of those blondies. Your time in America was all spent in the wrong place. From the photos you post you'd feel quite comfy here. And then you can exert your needed influence to help keep intelligent but sometimes too credulous people from tipping all the way over to the moron side.
Be paripatetic and do the rounds of the Eugy Readers B&B Network.
Sometimes I have this awful, awful fear that if we ever all got together in one big backyard we'd discover some horrible truth that physical distance is the magic charm to keep friendships happy and fresh.
Some, I'm sure, but not all. Of the few Internet friends I've ended up meeting IRL, it's maybe 50-50.
agree. most in real life meetings are positive 🥳
That's how all of mine work: Remotely.
Move to Hungary; the Duran's Alexes are there now, and I wouldn't doubt that Hungary is the safest place in all of Europe (or Slovakia) to express freedom of speech.
While we’ve got an open thread, any thoughts on Joe Biden apparently trying to start WWIII on his way out the door? I have a hard time believing that it is the Ukrainians targeting those missiles that are being lobbed into Russia.
No way is it the Ukes doing the heavy lifting on this.
There are US soldiers, US contractors, and NATO types doing all the work. First of all, all the weapons systems are in English and the Ukes use the Cyrillic alphabet. Can't even fudge the directions.
And we've seen just how well the Ukes fly F-16s.
Helpful comment, Kathleen.
I just saw on Twitter that Russia just fired a long range missile into Ukraine, probably a MIRV (there was a short video of multiple explosions). Supposedly, this kind of missile usually has nuclear warheads, but those were removed for this test? warning? shot.
These days you just don't know what to believe, so…
I think it's more likely that Russia will try to deploy a FOAB or other type of thermobaric weapon before a real nuclear weapon.
If and when, seismographs in Eastern Europe will pick up the detonation.
It's quite likely that Russia is having problems with their nuclear arsenal, given how sensitive and expensive the systems are, and how corrupt the Russian military is.
An interesting point one of the commenters made was that the West could detect the launch and would have to assume it was nuclear until it actually landed. Maybe Russia was hoping for some heart attacks.
I don't know enough about this to comment intelligently, as you can see 😐
That would depend on the size of the carrier-missile, I think.
And what if satellite-systems detected a launch of an SS-18 'Satan'? Not as if anyone could anything about it.
But: Russia has fewer than 60 of those missiles left (from over 300 during the Cold War), and it would be rather unnecessary to launch something designed to leave the atmosphere, cross over the North Pole, and then strike multiple targets in the USA when Russia shares a border with Ukraine.
More likely it was something that was going to be scrapped anyway and it was sabre-rattling meant to scare the EU into pleading with their US paymasters.
Putin just confirmed use of the mid-range missile ‚Oreshnik‘
Aha, there we go. "I can hit your house from here, Zelensky" and "Joe, I see your ATACMS and raise" all in one go.
Plus "Go F yourselves" to EU-leaders and the UK's former PM.
Now, Putin will let our media whip up a heady panic for a few days, and on Sunday evening he'll reiterate Russia's desire for peace-talks after the White House-circus gets done deciding how it's going to respond.
Or I'm dead-wrong again, always at least 50% odds of that.
Is it too much to ask that they shower a little of that on DC? I know people who would welcome them as liberators if they did.
Especially the Pentagon...full of idiot warmongers.
Yeah, Dnipro got hit with what looks like 6 sets of 4 warheads each. RS-24 Yars (Proper ICBM) seemed a good first guess, but apparently it was some new intermediate range system called Oreshnik, presumably also something that would normally carry nukes.
I spent the day quite on edge.
Unlikely a "MIRV", which stands for "Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle". The "re-entry" being "from space". You don't use rockets like that to bomb places *near* you. I suppose it might conceivably make sense as a means to test the launch capacity, but it's not a very good test if you aren't actually trying to make it to space.
Could have been a multi-warhead SRBM ("Short Range Ballistic Missile") though. That'd make a lot more sense, and would likely have made butts all over Europe pucker.
Thanks for clearing up the acronyms.
Today's (11/22) eugy post calls it a MIRV.
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/in-which-nato-brings-europe-closer
And I take (mild) umbrage with that use as well. ;)
But it's probably me being pedantic in a way that only other rocketry fans are going to really care about. And who knows, maybe it actually does exceed the official cap into LEO and therefore become a MIRV instead of essentially just a fancy-pants cluster munition. Russia is a remarkably large country, I had been thinking in terms of "Distance from Moscow to Kyiv" and thinking that didn't make a lot of sense for a trans-atmospheric capable delivery system. But depending on where the launch site is (I haven't looked on a map, yet) it might actually make sense.
They apparently think Russian Roulette is a fun parlor game.....
Good idea.
Play Russian roulette with er, Russia.
The country which largely won WE2- and only lost around 30 million souls…
I sometimes wonder if our idiot in charge know that.
Food for thought: the West has been breaking promises for decades.
https://substack.com/@alilybit/note/c-77958418
Oh, absolutely. That's the point I've been making ever since I finally came to my senses a few months after the invasion. (I had been working for a Ukrainian based startup at the time, so I had personal reasons to be upset at the event. My brain did eventually regain it's equilibrium. In fact, I know there are old comments of mine here that were made within the throes of "Ukraine Derangement Syndrome". ;) ) NATO moving into Ukraine is essentially the Cuban Missile Crisis on the Taiga. We didn't put up with that. There was no chance they would either. And yes, we'd been saying for a very long time that we wouldn't do that, and kept doing it anyway.
Of course, I've also thought that once the USSR fell, we should have handed the keys to NATO over to the EU and said "OK, boys, we're going home. Drive safe. Don't make us come back over here." and then *done it*. Not that the MIC were likely to allow that to happen, far too much money to be made otherwise.
I understand why the Eastern European countries wanted to join NATO, and the EU. Russia spent a very long time doing lots of very bad things to them, and that all starts *way* before the Cold War. But we should have known better.
Either that or we should have said "OK" when *Russia* asked to join NATO... but it would have been far better still to assume that the UK, France, and Germany had actually learned something in the preceding 50 years, and gotten the fuck out of Dodge.
I just listened to this interview with Jeffrey Sachs for the second time. It looks like he's getting a lot of frustration off his chest. https://youtu.be/VWYZpF2ngnc
' And yes, we'd been saying for a very long time that we wouldn't do that, and kept doing it anyway.' Very reminiscent of how we honored Indian treaties in the 1800s.
Yeah. The US has a depressingly appalling track record when it comes to honoring agreements.
'Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Russian strike in Ukraine was carried out by a new non-nuclear ballistic missile, which has a medium range.
'“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the Ukrainian defense industry,” Putin said in a televised statement.
'“In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was also tested,” Putin said, apparently referring to the strike on Dnipro. “In this case, with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment. Our missilemen called it ‘Oreshnik.’ The tests were successful. The launch goal was achieved.”'
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/europe/ukraine-russia-missile-wwk-intl/index.html
Is it really fair to blame the puppet instead of the hand up its ass at times like this? ;)
Yes. I'm against it.
We'll send Lawyers, Guns and Money!
So, be very afraid of the 6 AM knock at the door. Crazy how the Germans just cannot keep their inner Nazi from popping out. Sure they will have Nazism again, except this time it will come disguised as "social justice."
"Crazy how the Germans just cannot keep their inner Nazi from popping out."
I'm so old, I remember when Audi's "Green Police" was a satire.
https://henrybowman.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/but-please-buy-our-stuff-anyway/
One of the interesting nuggets you brought up when describing the structure and functioning of the German government was how, regardless the will of the individual nation’s governments comprising Europe, was how they can be dramatically hamstrung by their overlords at the EU and it’s overarching policies.
That’s a huge problem for any European nation that wants to break free of the especially destructive green and immigration mandates, just for two big examples.
I can’t help but feel that European nations, not just Germany, are going to have to experience a great deal of truly excruciating pain if they’re ever going to wake up and free themselves from the insanity that’s brought them all to brink of ruin.
If the German ground gets too hot, I am in the southern US and have a spare bedroom !
Hilarious choice of words. "If the German ground gets too hot" come move to the part of the country where you can cook an egg on the sidewalk 🤣
Yeah, but unlike much of Europe, we have air conditioning. The woke clowns will NEVER get that away from us.
In fact, we double down on the cold. If it's 80F out, our retail establishments take that to mean they must set the AC temperature to 65F. If it gets up to 90F then subtract another 5 degrees and make it 60F inside.
Here in Georgia, we got big ass, coal fired power plants making AC great again. And if the environmental Nazis manage to squelch any of those coal fired behemoths, we got a new nuke now to pick up the slack. Don't tell the Germans though, the pearl clutching greens will stroke right out... Oh wait, go ahead.
I got into an argument with a eurocuck in the comments of a different blog once. They were dunking on Americans for driving everywhere instead of walking or taking public transit.
Except, North American has weather extremes that Europeans can only dream of. Going from memory, the gist of my comment was:
I grew up in a city where, from November to April, the _high_ temperatures outside are about -15C (5F) and overnight lows are -40C (-40F). I now live in a city where, from June through October, the daily highs are around 40C (104F) and lows are 26C (80F)
-40C, which my hometown hits probably 30-50 times a year, is colder than the coldest temperature ever recorded in any major European city. Meanwhile, +40C, which my current city hits probably 70-100 times a year, is hotter than the hottest temperature ever recorded in any major European city.
It's really easy to walk a mile to the train station when the weather is mild. But, both where I grew up and where I live now, walking a mile outside without properly preparing for it can kill you. The European mind cannot comprehend this!
And, to be clear, while you can pry my car from my cold dead hands, I hate driving. I used to live in San Francisco, and one of the very few good things I can say about that city, is that it's fuckin' awesome to never have to drive anywhere. Never have to gas up my car. Never have to pay for parking. Never have to worry about my car getting broken into. But, well, that kind of city is reasonable when it's pleasant to walk outside. It is not reasonable when it is life-threatening to walk outside
Going to object to this a bit: 1/4 of my nation is in the Arctic. It's people from the central parts - and the cities where 90% live - that don't "get it". I'm at the same latitude as the Great Slave Lake, more or less.
Here, -30C at night from December to March isn´t special, and I'm in the middle of Sweden, inland cozying up to the fjells. Imagine how it is up North where Finland, Norway and Sweden meet and there's nothing but small hillocks between you and the actual Arctic ocean.
Greece, Albania, Jugoslvia (I aint' writing out all the names of their nations!), southern Italy, Spain - they all experience +40C in Summer.
What's different from the US is of course, we're /different / nations and not one, plus most people are citydwellers (and for some reason jealous of America, something I really don't get).
Again, you've been talking to city-grubbers, I'd wager. Right now, it's a balmy -8C outside.
> Going to object to this a bit: 1/4 of my nation is in the Arctic.
I suspect "_major_ city" is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the research I did. I also suspect that, in my half remembered comment I made several years ago, I was thinking "Hajnal-line Europe" when I said "Europe" so apologies to all the Slavs and Balkans.
The more impressive criticism I got was 'what about Asia, where it's hot as balls and incredibly humid in the southeast Asian jungle nations' and the only response I have to that is "I bet if it was economical and practical for all of those Asian citizens to have private air-conditioned vehicles, they'd prefer them"
My deeper point, which is still directionally correct, is that America faces a unique set of challenges that most Europeans who criticise us just fundamentally don't know about. They don't face them in their own lives.
I mean, to roll on transit for a bit, every American knows exactly why our major cities don't have European-style transit systems. It's because if we did, they'd all be soaked in urine and you'd have a 15% chance of getting stabbed and robbed on them, because of, er, _unique factors not present in Europe_ we should say. Europe still has the ability to police quality of life, but we can't do that here because das rayciss.
Like seriously, the new york subway system has some absurdly high rate of fare jumping. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would imagine that in most European countries, people actually pay for the subway when they ride it. You can do a lot of great things with public infrastructure when people don't steal from it.
Also: "Americans think 400 years was a long time ago. Europeans think 400 kilometers is a long way away."
I live in Albuquerque, and the next closest "major" city in each cardinal direction is over 400 km. And "major" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there as well, insofar as three of them are Amarillo, El Paso, and Flagstaff. ;)
What Warmek says about distance/time certainly is true, as an underlying way of thought I think. On the other hand, the closest metropolis (+500 000 inhabitants, and there's another difference between European nations and USA too - the sheer size of some of your city-areas) is about 450km away.
But I'm in the country, and in my parts we're fewer than 1person/sqkm statistics-wise.
As for the many-hued factors of public transport, well that was true until ca 25 years ago (Sweden), other nations have been catching uo though and now Greens, Reds and femifascists are demanding "Women Only" trams, subway cars and buses in the major cities.
No mention of any characteristics of the problem-people except their alleged sex/gender. . .
As I'm fond of saying, I can put seagulls in my chicken coop but it won't make'em into hens.
I was also pondering the risk to you, although your language is carefully balanced. But if that English speaking German officer (plural?) who knows about substack gets round to you ...
As one alternative to modern electrics, I recommend a proper brush and razor for shaving. Then at least that is one area they cannot annoy you ... unless they confiscate the razor.
We will visit you in prison.
thank you
Good to hear your voice.
Let's hope for the best!
If you need to hide out I got you😜
Right, the system makes itself ridiculous, however, it is not so funny anymore if it can and will hurt you seriously.
You may have an eccentrically toothed health minister, but consider two US “pictures of health”: that of General “Rachel” Levine alongside one of RFK Jr in full exercise mode.
That reminds me of the story of a politician who was campaigning on an Indian reservation in the United States to a tribe of Native Americans gathered in a cow pasture. During his speech he promised them that if he were elected he would work to better their standard of living, and everyone yelled out "Oompa!" He smiled and promised he would ensure their right to hunt on their native lands was preserved, and they all yelled out "Oompa!" He promised to help pass legislation to allow gambling on their lands and they shouted "Oompa!" Pleased with the response, he said he would make sure they had better nutrition and better education, and in unison they yelled out "Oompa!" He was very happy with the Native Americans' enthusiasm. As he walked back across the pasture to his limousine with the Indian chief at his side, the chief pointed and said," Be careful, don't step in the oompa."
Edited for better wording and capitalization.
Courageous citizen-journalists like you will always be welcome here. Though the only word I know in German is the one represented by the Notorious Poop Emoji™ ;-)
Here, let me teach you an easy one
"Si-"[my lawyers have advised me not to finish typing this sentence]