Conflict at Axel Springer: "WamS" Comment Editor Attacks "Bild" Editor-in-Chief - well, one Springer crow just can't peck out the eye of another. Too bad that the contents are now sufficiently documented in various places. Despite the flip at Welt Online ...
bananenrepublik - 9.11.2006 - 10.5.2007
Linuxtag with patron Wolfgang Schäuble - "As emphasized on the conference organization's website, the patronage by the Federal Ministry of the Interior is a tradition that has been maintained by the Linuxtag for five years. No political evaluation is associated with the patronage." - Sorry, but wouldn't it be time to break with tradition? First the Iron Otto and now Schäuble? Do you want such a patronage? What is the point of a patronage that one explicitly distances oneself from?
Schäuble: Germany is "one of the safest countries in the world" - that's why we absolutely need to tighten the laws. What nonsense politicians come up with. And how quickly voters forget that.
Schäuble and Zypries want to extend Paragraph 129 StGB to individual perpetrators - the state's rampage continues. And as expected, the Federal Incompetence (some call her Federal Minister of Justice) immediately caves under minimal pressure. Can we still hope for Karlsruhe then?
Police rely on private service providers in hunt for child pornography - interesting, especially in light of Schäuble's demand for expanded surveillance. Then even more will be outsourced in the long run - but where will the security of citizens' privacy remain?
The Inventors of Helmut Kohl - Reading Command.
Innenministerium: Online-Durchsuchungen längst Usus - because, of course, an official instruction is more important than the constitution.
Union will den "Schäuble-Katalog" in allen Punkten durchsetzen - allegedly to adjust the legal situation to the threat situation. However, the threat situation has not changed at all, why does something need to be adjusted?
Interior Minister Schäuble wants to overturn the principle of presumption of innocence - Wheelchair Rambo in full swing. 24 in the Bundestag. Say goodbye to the rule of law. Particularly cute: Those who characterize his plans for constitutional amendments as an attack on the constitution would be defaming him: "Those who claim the opposite are playing a vile game with me." - ah, so it's about him? And not about preserving what our constitution guarantees us?
Police should be able to automatically access digital passport photos - strange, I can still remember that this type of use was vehemently denied when it was raised by critics.
Debate about Christian Klar: When we talk about murder - read. Really. To straighten out the perspective once.
Cooperative Banks and What Became of Them
Does anyone remember what it was like back then? The Volksbanken or Raiffeisen Bank as the alternative to the Sparkasse, which belonged to the city or the district. Of course, there were private banks too - but those were only for the wealthy and companies. The rest of us went to the Sparkasse or Volksbank. And in my region, that's where the Volksbank was. Those were people like you and me. They didn't take you for a ride - a loan was sometimes (rightly) rejected because the income situation didn't allow it. Investment advice was aimed at actually investing money sensibly and safely, as a reserve for bad days. And the home financing - that was designed so that you could keep your own home afterwards.
Today, all of that is just a fairy tale. It was once upon a time. And it's not coming back. Today, Volksbanken massively send out Easy-Credit letters - with which ordinary households are saddled with even more expensive loans. And in case of problems, a debt restructuring loan is quickly at hand. And the home financing? It doesn't matter if you're broke, the bank has the house. And investments? Preferably the riskier stock funds, because that's where the banker gets a higher commission.
Why am I writing this? Because it's been bothering me for a long time. Because it's disgusting. And because I received a letter from my Volksbank today that brings it all back to mind, which is almost symptomatic: the joyful news that my credit card fee is now dependent on my turnover. Not presented in a way that I, as a frequent user, get a small bonus (which I already have a hard time reconciling with the cooperative idea, but whatever). No, it is explicitly offered to me as a cost-saving measure. Yes, exactly, I can save the amazing 20 Euro annual fee if I only spend 3000 Euro a year with the credit card. Isn't that a real bargain? Consume! Consume! Let's consume until we're stupid, then the politicians will be happy, the economy will be doing well, and we'll just file for personal bankruptcy.
By the way, the number of personal bankruptcies has increased significantly in NRW compared to previous years.
Gymnasium bans Harry Potter - To avoid offending religious feelings, a Harry Potter novel will no longer be taught at a Chemnitz high school at the request of parents. - Are we in America now, or why do religious fanatics suddenly have a say? I mean, if they are removed because of their poor style, because they are simply bad - ok. But because of offending religious feelings? What nonsense is this?
"Koran ruling": Outrage over Frankfurt judge - The Frankfurt judge rejected this, decided that there was no undue hardship. The Koran provides for a right to chastise. - since when does any religious pamphlet take precedence over criminal law?
SPD-Speaker: Online searches are definitely coming - The "ghost debates" of data protectionists and other opponents of further authorization for state espionage are not understood by WiefelspĂĽtz, however. It is always pretended that "we are a surveillance state". Meanwhile, no one here is demanding torture or Guantanamo.
The majority of the silent ones - Read!
Politicians against Kurnaz's naturalization - the last trash, our politicians. First, they sell a human being, then they don't care what happens to him, and then there are "security concerns" against naturalization. Could someone deport Schönboom and Wiefelspütz? Their reliability and attitude towards the democratic basic order is more than questionable ...
Schäuble: Trojans should also search private diaries - in my opinion, Schäuble's attitude towards the democratic basic order and the constitution is no longer questionable. He has, in my opinion, long since completely left the framework to which he swore an oath of office.
Secret online searches are inadmissible - This follows, on the one hand, "from several provisions of search law in favor of the accused" (the BGH counts the right of presence and the calling of witnesses among these), which represent mandatory law and "are not at the disposal of the investigating authorities." The political response to this: Schäuble had already announced that, should the BGH deny the admissibility of online searches based on the current legal situation, corresponding adjustments to the laws would be made.
Schäuble heats up debate on online searches after BGH ruling - As the superior authority of the police, Federal Interior Minister Schäuble demanded the rapid creation of a legal basis for online searches. The Police Union demanded that the new legal regulation also eliminate the obstacles caused by data protection law. - Yes, that really gives you courage. On to the police state.
Off to the surveillance state - a chronology.
Minimum wages in Europe - except of course in our country, because it's supposed to ruin the economy. And the union's demand is even below many European neighbors.
Bundestag: Eavesdropping devices in MP's office? - only concerns an MP from the Left Party. Will probably fizzle out or be covered up ...
User data to be released for danger prevention - sounds nice, doesn't it? But in reality, it means that every police officer can now more or less arbitrarily access customer data from providers. Because prevention and danger prevention - there's no need for any control. Then it goes quickly like stepping on cats ...
Minimum wage - even in the USA there is one, and it was just increased - and drastically so. Only here everyone claims that a statutory minimum wage would harm the economy.
Two programming positions for the "Bundestrojaner" - the absurdity continues. Our government couldn't care less about civil rights or the constitution. Long strides into the police state. 1984 is so yesterday.
Child pornography on the Internet: Investigators check all German credit cards for the first time - because, it is against child pornography, so everyone must agree. That data protection and presumption of innocence are simply left by the wayside, no one cares. And tomorrow we ask for contributions to the Communist Party or the trade union - and then? Are we still all in agreement then?
Big Brother in the private computer - Orwell is so outdated ...
BGH bans online searches of computer systems - interesting, how this comes at the same time as Schäuble's rant. And how this article already assumes that politics will bluntly ignore the court's opinion and simply create legal foundations.
Schäuble: Internet is "distance learning university and training camp" for terrorists - especially for state-sponsored terrorists and hate preachers, who then create viruses and trojans to spy on the hard drives of innocent citizens due to their own paranoia. What kind of banana republic do we actually live in ...
Online searches of PCs by law enforcement and intelligence agencies - no statements from the proponents on how they technically envision this nonsense - Trojans forcibly installed on all systems? What about different operating systems - will the use of exotic systems like BeOS soon be an obstruction of authorities and punishable? The demand alone is absurd: that the authorities have too much work with actual on-site operations and therefore want online access. Is that my problem if they have too much work? The demands of the interior ministers have always been stupid and anti-constitutional, but meanwhile they are completely out of their minds.
Apparently 200,000 German-language bomb-making instructions on the net - by goats and gardeners. And how interest groups shamelessly cooperate with corporate interests when it suits them. That the demands ultimately mean a sell-out of our rights doesn't bother anyone.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern remains stuck with the bulk of the G8 costs - but strangely enough, the federal government decided in 2004 to hold the G8 summit there? Did none of them check the financing security beforehand? Are there only incompetent bunglers at work in Berlin? Apart from this small - ahem - election problem in MeckPomm ...
Seven billion for the Bundeswehr's IT project - going to SBS. Just as a reminder for me, for possible connections with the previous link ... (and Banana Republic because I honestly don't quite see how a state can be so stupid as to let a private company operate the communication system of its army)
Siemens manager spills the beans in corruption scandal - by the way, Siemens (yes, yes, ok, a subsidiary, namely SBS) has just received the contract for operating the new communication system of the Bundeswehr. Even the majority in the operating company for the project.
Constitutional protector would use torture confessions - isn't it cute how the top constitutional protector tramples the protected good with his feet. And all this to protect us from a danger that has caused exactly 0 deaths in the last few years? I am sure that if we demanded a speed limit of 100 km/h on highways to reduce the number of traffic fatalities, he would also protest - after all, he can then no longer drive his Benz through the republic (I assume he has a Benz, anything less is not good enough for someone like him ...)
Cabinet decides on retirement at 67 - "Where are the jobs supposed to come from when millions of older and even younger people are already out of work," asked DGB executive board member Annelie Buntenbach on ARD.
When the Anti-Corruption Department is involved in corruption - then it's called the economy.
Mannesmann trial coming to an end - because the bigwigs can simply buy their way out. That's how capitalism works.
Thousands of criminal proceedings against Internet coffee buyers - Coffee tax. Of course. Why customs does not collect it directly from incoming packages (so far, customs has stuck its fingers into my packages - although not coffee - every time), no one has explained ...
Controlled heroin distribution on the verge of ending? - successful reintegration of heroin addicts, lives at stake (and demonstrably saved from the vicious cycle of addiction by the program), but what is politics doing? Riding on principles because such things just shouldn't exist. And presumably, all the Union bigwigs are at home getting drunk.
Demands for banning killer games are getting louder - funny. I am absolutely sure that you cannot get firearms in a computer game that you can then use to shoot around in real life. But politics does not ask about the origin of the weapons, only that computer games must be banned (whereas games glorifying violence are already banned - banning more than banning somehow doesn't do anything, does it?). Activism instead of thinking.
Online price comparison for dental patients banned - the panic fear of the informed patient.
E-Mail account only with ID card? - ok, if this goes through, we can say goodbye to any form of reason on the Internet. And anyone who still offers services as a provider should think carefully about it ...
The Lotto Mandatory Proxy - once again, a huge drama. Due to the lottery monopoly, are we facing new nonsense blocking demands? In what kind of banana republic do we actually live here ...
E-Voting - the PTB in a state of explanation. The PTB director comes across as quite helpless in that interview.
Freie Wähler feel blackmailed: Koch dismisses allegations as "absurd" - something new from our strangest "democrat" from Hesse ...
Merkel advocates for more surveillance despite high security - they can't get enough. Meanwhile, they don't even bother to come up with lies anymore ...
Interior Minister SchĂĽnemann: T-Mobile obstructs law enforcement - cute. T-Online only accepts location determination orders from authorities via an expensive 0900 number.