Germany

It seems things are getting desperate for Kim Dotcom. He is now calling home to Germany to try and avoid extradition…pity he won’t go in person.

Why doesn’t he just go to the US and clear his name? What is he afraid of?

Kim Dotcom’s lawyers intend to ask the German government to intervene with the United States and try to block his extradition on criminal copyright charges, German news agency DPA has reported.

London-based Canadian human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who co-wrote a “white paper” released last week criticising the case against Dotcom’s MegaUpload business, told the DPA that Germany had not done enough to assist Dotcom. Read more »

The Krauts have finally had enough of the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys with them declaring that France is Europe’s biggest problem.

A scathing German assessment of France’s economic weakness – in which the country is labelled “Europe’s biggest problem child” – has reopened divisions between Europe’s two biggest powers.

Last time they had big divisions the Germans were marching down the Champs Elysee in the shade fo the trees about 40 minutes after invading.

A leaked internal briefing from Angela Merkel’s coalition partners refers to President Francois Hollande as “meandering” and draws attention to France’s “highly regulated labour market and highly developed social security system”.

Details of the briefing note were published alongside an internal assessment from the German economics ministry, which listed the French economy’s failings.  Read more »

The Greens want to prohibit testing of party pills on animals – but are they really promoting MAC (Mothers Against Canada). The second to last bullet point, at bottom of the webpage encouraging submissions on the bill reads:

“Belgium, Estonia, Slovak Republic, Germany have also all banned testing tobacco and Canada.”

Read more »

A reader emails about my post earlier on Tesla electric cars:

I have a friend in Germany who has a Tesla.

It is bright yellow, not green, and unbelievably fast.  Read more »

It’s the Germans this time.

A report about child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, based on victim accounts and released by the church this week, showed that priests carefully planned their assaults and frequently abused the same children repeatedly for years.

The report, compiled from information collected from victims and other witnesses who called a hot line run by the church from 2010 until the end of last year, includes the ages of the victims, the locations of the assaults and the repercussions they have suffered since. The accounts were provided in 8,500 calls to the hot line; they are not representative of abuse cases over all and cannot be individually verified. The church said the report contained information from 1,824 people, of whom 1,165 described themselves as victims.

Bloody Catholic priests, just can’t leave the kids alone.  Read more »

In Fishy’s article this morning, Dotcon drops the clanger that he was in the throes of launching an IPO for his quasi song-swap service.

That Fishy could let this pass without mentioning some pretty obvious questions suggests that Fishy is wilfully blind to Dotcon’s crooked past.

For example:

Does Dotcon seriously expect to issue a prospectus in New Zealand for a sharemarket listed company when he has been convicted for insider trading/pump and dump stock frauds in the past? (The Letsbuyit.com affair)

When Kim Schmitz was convicted in 2002 of manipulating shares in online retailer LetsBuyIt.com, it marked the end of Germany’s biggest insider-trading case ever and exposed just how easy it was to profit at other investors’ expense. The self-styled Internet entrepreneur’s previous conviction for computer fraud didn’t stop him from announcing a spurious rescue effort for the online retailer that temporarily goosed the stock — and gave him the chance to sell his shares at a profit of $1.5 million. Worse, when it came time for sentencing, Schmitz got a slap on the wrist: a 20-month suspended sentence after five months in jail awaiting trial.

Does Dotcon serious expect to get the FMA blessing for such a prospectus when he was found guilty and convicted of hacking?  Read more »

Saturday started with a Face of the Day photo that was a bit hard to look at before breakfast.  Cam finds a Frenchman worthy of respect, and is pleased to find they aren’t all cheese eating surrender monkeys. Count Jacques le Bel de Penguilly does have a poofy name though.  Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche is a play that Whale suggests David Farrar should review for his Womans Weekly blog.  Australia charges its second Catholic Priest for child sex crimes, and this blog continues to ask:  Why is New Zealand immune?  We’re either better than the rest of the world or we’re still covering it up.  Which is it, and why?   Sadly, another Cry Baby post where we highlight those who aren’t taking personal responsibility.  This time, people who booked on Jetstar had their flights cancelled are in the paper bleating they’ll never fly Jetstar again.  If only they knew this could happen, eh?  Sharing a public space is tough when the others are eating, playing music and talking on their phones.  Cam Slater throws in a joke about an ERO school inspector and Hekia Parata, and follows it up with a post where he reveals that politicians lie.  Yeah.  Why do women wear high heels?  It can get to the point of ridiculousness for sure. An interesting post showing that a Connecticut newspaper is still advertising guns right next to Sandy Hook School news.  That was followed by a post of dash cam footage from 1927 as well as dash cam footage of a plane crash last week.  Next a top drawer post about glow in the dark toilet paper and poop hand soap.  Only on WOBH.   An interesting BBC2 short about Gordon Buchanan turning himself potential into Polar Bear lunch leads a post about Iron Maiden showing Steve Harris wearing a Whale Oil Beef Hooked T-Shirt.  Perhaps we should avoid NZ Herald Stock tips:  Australian shares are hot apparently?  Especially those APN stocks.  Oh, and Fairfax stocks are doing just great as well.  And as we wind down towards the end of the Saturday, we have a post about a CK Stead letter in which he slams the Binnie report as having clear bias.   Read more »

Fighty Germans are a bit of a problem, they are good early but run out of puff late in piece, and cost the rest of us a lot to save the cheese eating surrender monkeys.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted a recent reception for military families, she greeted parents, wives and children whose loved ones were spending their holidays inAfghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo and off the Horn of Africa. German deployments overseas, Ms. Merkel said, “will soon encompass the entire globe.”

On that same wintry afternoon, members of Parliament debated whether to add to the nearly 6,000 German troops currently serving abroad by sending up to 400 soldiers to Turkey, where they would operate two Patriot missile batteries to help protect their NATO ally from a potential escalation of the civil war across the border in Syria.

“For decades, we Germans have benefited from the fact that our partners gave us the feeling of reliable security,” Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s defense minister, said during the debate last month. “Now we are in a position and have the duty, even, to make our impact felt.”

Only a handful of shivering protesters passed out fliers in front of the Brandenburg Gate opposing the deployment. The vote easily passed in the Parliament two days later.

Read more »

Paul Watson talks the big game…but when it comes to his own skin is nothing but a big coward as he stays in international waters to avoid capture.

He should be arrested in Australia if he comes ashore and the same goes for here. Anyone who flies the jolly roger and attacks ships on the high seas is a pirate:

A DIPLOMATIC headache is developing for the federal government as ground is laid for the wanted Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, to come ashore in Australia.

Mr Watson is wanted by Japan over his Antarctic anti-whaling campaigns, and after skipping bail in Germany has been at sea for months to avoid arrest.

No surprises that the Green taliban of Australia is sticking up for the pirate.  Read more »

Via DeviantArt  Credit: justcobe