BREAKING Munich (apparent) terrorist attack

[Bodhisattva]

Car used to mow down pedestrians. Seems to be a theme.

A car plowed into demonstrators in Munich on Thursday injuring at least 28 people, in what a local official said was a suspected attack, shortly before world leaders were due in the southern German city for a high-level security conference.

The suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, Munich police director, Christian Huber, told reporters. Bavarian governor Markus Söder said the incident “is suspected to be an attack.”
...

Authorities launched a major operation near the city’s central train station, a spokesperson said. Police detained the driver and did not consider him a further threat, the force said in a post on X. Children were among those injured, according to the city’s mayor, Dieter Reiter.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/europe/munich-car-hits-people-intl/index.html

 

[Tidewater]

Germany is about to have elections and this will not help the "immigrants welcome" crowd.
It will probably help the AfD.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Germany is about to have elections and this will not help the "immigrants welcome" crowd.
It will probably help the AfD.

It sounds like that would be good for them.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Germany is about to have elections and this will not help the "immigrants welcome" crowd.
It will probably help the AfD.

Good.

 

[Tidewater]

Good.

I do not have a position on German domestic politics. My German colleagues are worried about AfD. I wonder how much of that is due to atrocious media coverage and how much is that AfD really are neonazis. I'm too polite to push my German colleagues too hard for answers. I do not wish to be impolite.
I listened to Musk's interview of Alice Weidel. She was scrupulous to avoid anything that sounded remotely neonazi. More libertarian. Weidel is not stupid, but she does sound naive, honestly. The problem is the leaders of Germany's other parties are not exactly geniuses.
A jihadi could stand in a city unloading a pistol into a crowd while screaming "allahu akbar," the German leaders would say, "We don't know the killer's motivation."
Really? You don't know?
And the other main parties are so beholden to the Greens, no matter how dumb the Greens are. See the closure of Germany's very safe nuclear plants, so now they are burning filthy coal for electricity. Nobody has the stones to tell the Greens "Shut up. You're stupid."

 

[Its On A Slab]

I do not have a position on German domestic politics. My German colleagues are worried about AfD. I wonder how much of that is due to atrocious media coverage and how much is that AfD really are neonazis. I'm too polite to push my German colleagues too hard for answers. I do not wish to be impolite.
I listened to Musk's interview of Alice Weidel. She was scrupulous to avoid anything that sounded remotely neonazi. More libertarian. Weidel is not stupid, but she does sound naive, honestly. The problem is the leaders of Germany's other parties are not exactly geniuses.
A jihadi could stand in a city unloading a pistol into a crowd while screaming "allahu akbar," the German leaders would say, "We don't know the killer's motivation."
Really? You don't know?
And the other main parties are so beholden to the Greens, no matter how dumb the Greens are. See the closure of Germany's very safe nuclear plants, so now they are burning filthy coal for electricity. Nobody has the stones to tell the Greens "Shut up. You're stupid."

The bane of mulit-party governments playing out in Germany. If the main parties are beholden to the Greens, it simply means that they need the Greens in order to have a ruling coalition. As such, you make compromises to your principles in order to keep everybody happy.

Italy's 69 governments since WW2 is a perfect example. Israel's 37 since the founding of the state of Israel.

 

[Tidewater]

The bane of mulit-party governments playing out in Germany. If the main parties are beholden to the Greens, it simply means that they need the Greens in order to have a ruling coalition. As such, you make compromises to your principles in order to keep everybody happy.

Italy's 69 governments since WW2 is a perfect example. Israel's 37 since the founding of the state of Israel.

Absolutely.
It is not that SPD, CDU/CSU, and FDP like the Greens. They need them in coalition so they can avoid a coalition with the AfD.
The new Berlin airport was completely finished for about ten years while the Greens fought it with lawsuit after lawsuit. Nobody could tell the Greens to shut down the lawsuits and let the dang airport open.
The reason is that all the other parties hated the idea of a coalition that would include AfD.
It is not that AfD has mobs of brownshirts out bashing Pakistani immigrants with truncheons, but the media coverage has made it look that way.
Including this:

Er Ist Wieder Da is satire, but it is also making some serious points.
Given Germany's unfortunate political history, most Germans are very reluctant to embrace anything that smells of nazis (and rightly so).
The implication is that in German domestic policy, there is a huge territory to the "right" of "let every foreigner in who wants to come and let them latch on to the public teat for as long as they want to, and they do not need to learn German, they do not need to work, and they do not need to try to assimilate." SPD won't allow any policy to the "right" of that. Neither will CSU/CDU and the FDP, so AfD inherits all of that political space by default. And that ain't good.

 

[Bodhisattva]

And the other main parties are so beholden to the Greens, no matter how dumb the Greens are. See the closure of Germany's very safe nuclear plants, so now they are burning filthy coal for electricity. Nobody has the stones to tell the Greens "Shut up. You're stupid."

The new Berlin airport was completely finished for about ten years while the Greens fought it with lawsuit after lawsuit. Nobody could tell the Greens to shut down the lawsuits and let the dang airport open.

Greens and their enablers ... stupid is as stupid does ... everywhere.

 

[Tidewater]

Greens and their enablers ... stupid is as stupid does ... everywhere.

I believe the German Greens are sincere, but now Germany is burning the dirtiest coal in the world for electricity. Way to go, Greens. Well done.

 

[Huckleberry]

It sounds like that would be good for them.

Good.

Do you really mean to express your approval of and a hope that AfD gains more power in Germany or are you speaking to the immigration issue only?

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Do you really mean to express your approval of and a hope that AfD gains more power in Germany or are you speaking to the immigration issue only?

What I'm saying is that actions have consequences. I genuinely don't know much about AfD and it won't be easy to get any real information, but I'm open to finding out. In any case, lets say that the worst case scenario is true and German society's collapse accelerates as the AfD continues to gain traction. The people responsible for this won't be the AfD, it will be the idiots who enabled their rise to power.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Do you really mean to express your approval of and a hope that AfD gains more power in Germany or are you speaking to the immigration issue only?

Speaking to the immigration issue, I don't really know (or care) about German politics - I only know they are just now starting to feel the pain of unrestricted immigration.

 

[Tidewater]

Speaking to the immigration issue, I don't really know (or care) about German politics - I only know they are just now starting to feel the pain of unrestricted immigration.

That to me is the weird thing. The "normal" political parties have deliberately ceded the entire immigration-skeptical terrain to AfD. Everyone between the position of "I like immigrants okay, but we should slow the rate of immigration, screen for bad actors, and immigrants must integrate into German society" to the "I hate all immigrants and we should never allow any non-Germans into the country." All Germans between those two positions have nowhere to turn except to AfD. The other parties steadfastly refuse to embrace anyone holding any position between those two. It is astounding political malpractice. The latter is overtly xenophobic, but, if I was a German citizen, I would endorse the former.

 

[cbi1972]

That to me is the weird thing. The "normal" political parties have deliberately ceded the entire immigration-skeptical terrain to AfD. Everyone between the position of "I like immigrants okay, but we should slow the rate of immigration, screen for bad actors, and immigrants must integrate into German society" to the "I hate all immigrants and we should never allow any non-Germans into the country." All Germans between those two positions have nowhere to turn except to AfD. The other parties steadfastly refuse to embrace anyone holding any position between those two. It is astounding political malpractice. The latter is overtly xenophobic, but, if I was a German citizen, I would endorse the former.

US Democrats have made similar missteps in pushing culture too hard to the left. Defund the police, demonizing anyone not accepting transsexuality, and running women against Trump has done us great damage. Choosing between Bush and Gore would be a dream at this point.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Another car ran into another crowd in Germany, although initial reports (ho hum) tell us it's a German national.


Mannheim: At least two killed after car rams crowd in German city | CNN

 

[Padreruf]

US Democrats have made similar missteps in pushing culture too hard to the left. Defund the police, demonizing anyone not accepting transsexuality, and running women against Trump has done us great damage. Choosing between Bush and Gore would be a dream at this point.

Quite frankly I can fault the Dems as much as the Repubs for Trump's election. Their ineptitude in governing and in putting forth viable candidates enabled the Repubs to soar to victory. Now we are reaping the whirlwind and it is not pretty.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Another car ran into another crowd in Germany, although initial reports (ho hum) tell us it's a German national.

Be curious to see if this one is natural born or 'imported'.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Quite frankly I can fault the Dems as much as the Repubs for Trump's election. Their ineptitude in governing and in putting forth viable candidates enabled the Repubs to soar to victory. Now we are reaping the whirlwind and it is not pretty.

100% agree, Padre.

The Democrats were so far out in left field playing identity politics and telling everybody how tolerant they are -- except, of course, for the knuckle-dragging moron fascist misogynistic racist Nazis who don't see everything their way -- they alienated the middle and couldn't win against the most flawed and beatable Republican since Herbert Hoover.

This election was far more a rebuke of Democratic strategy for the past 20 years than it was an endorsement of Trump. They even lost the popular vote, which theretofore had been their rallying cry against the Electoral College.

If the Dems could nominate a rational candidate (like Joe Manchin), they'd have easily won and would likely have control of both houses of Congress.

Due to the different rules by which the parties allocate delegates to their national conventions, the Democrats have a far better chance of doing this than the Republicans. Why they don't is beyond me.

 

[AWRTR]

100% agree, Padre.

The Democrats were so far out in left field playing identity politics and telling everybody how tolerant they are -- except, of course, for the knuckle-dragging moron fascist misogynistic racist Nazis who don't see everything their way -- they alienated the middle and couldn't win against the most flawed and beatable Republican since Herbert Hoover.

This election was far more a rebuke of Democratic strategy for the past 20 years than it was an endorsement of Trump. They even lost the popular vote, which theretofore had been their rallying cry against the Electoral College.

If the Dems could nominate a rational candidate (like Joe Manchin), they'd have easily won and would likely have control of both houses of Congress.

Due to the different rules by which the parties allocate delegates to their national conventions, the Democrats have a far better chance of doing this than the Republicans. Why they don't is beyond me.

The wild part is that they seem in most cases to be doubling down. Fetterman is screaming stop but outside of him I don't see any prominent Dem politicians trying to turn the ship a little bit. If I've missed someone else with actual power please let me know.

 

[Tidewater]

100% agree, Padre.

The Democrats were so far out in left field playing identity politics and telling everybody how tolerant they are -- except, of course, for the knuckle-dragging moron fascist misogynistic racist Nazis who don't see everything their way -- they alienated the middle and couldn't win against the most flawed and beatable Republican since Herbert Hoover.

This election was far more a rebuke of Democratic strategy for the past 20 years than it was an endorsement of Trump. They even lost the popular vote, which theretofore had been their rallying cry against the Electoral College.

If the Dems could nominate a rational candidate (like Joe Manchin), they'd have easily won and would likely have control of both houses of Congress.

Due to the different rules by which the parties allocate delegates to their national conventions, the Democrats have a far better chance of doing this than the Republicans. Why they don't is beyond me.

I've said before that when the party goes down the road of "Oh, well, he (or she) has been a loyal party member for X years, so we owe it to him to let him run."
Republicans with Dole in 1996, Hillary in 2016, and Biden in 2024.

After the 2022 mid-terms it was time for the party to go to Biden and say, "You set out to beat Trump and you did beat him, but your decline makes it necessary to turn the page and open the Democratic primaries to a real competition for the job."
The party and the country would have been better served by that policy.
By waiting until July 2024, campaign finance law wed the Democrats to Kamala Harris. If the Democrats had had a real open competition starting in December 2022, I am not convinced she would have been the candidate.

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)