#419: Weapons factory, More A100, Rigaer 94
Corona Krauts rushed the Reichstag five years ago
Hey 20 Percent,
A couple weeks ago a fan wrote to me saying Subway Takes was coming to Berlin’s U-Bahn and they were looking for people with takes.
And I have plenty.
My wife and I were in a Heidelberg hotel room and quickly threw together a cringey-greenscreen nightmare of an application … and it worked.
A week or so later I was careening under Berlin in the U2 telling Kareem my thought. I don’t want to spoil it (no I don’t know when they’ll release it) but let’s say I’m tired of old, male politicians.
It was a blast and a bunch of German comedian friends also had some … interesting but also very German and very hilarious takes. I’ll be sure to link mine here.
Have a good weekend y’all!
Andrew
PS: I’ll be headlining the 20 Percent Comedy Night at Die Göre Comedy Club in Friedrichshain along with my favorite comedians from the German and English scenes. Sure the club sounds like a Swedish death metal band in English but it’s a cozy venue in the belly of a 100-hundred-year-old power station. Get tix here!
Wedding weapons
The global war games have made it to Berlin. German defense giant Rheinmetall is converting a truck-parts factory in Wedding into an artillery shell factory as Germany returns to the defense game, according to taz. The site was formerly part of the Pierburg automotive subsidiary but has now been renamed to Rheinmetall Waffen Munitions GmbH — worse Denglish than many of us speak — and is officially dual-use to make parts for both war and hauling machines but nobody is believing that double-speak. The site is just across Hussitenstraße from Volkspark Humboldthain and weirdly I drove by the plant just last week and wondered what it even was. 350 jobs at the plant are being saved since German vehicle manufacturing is in a bit of a crisis right now.
Rigaer 94 raided (again)
And the cat and mouse game of squatters, police officers and landlords continued early Thursday when 700 police officers were needed to write down the personal information of 26 of Berlin’s few remaining squatters, according to rbb24. The cops raided the Rigaer 94 squat in Friedrichshain at 6 am and used metal grinders to cut their way into 13 apartments to secure the information ahead of eviction proceedings for the building. The squat is a remainder from a squat boom at the end of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Most were cleared and renovated (RIP Tacheles) while others were able to reach agreements with residents who signed rental contracts. Personally, I live in a big city because I like the diverse lifestyles and think squats have as much a right to exist as multi-million-euro penthouses.
A100 who?
While the car game may be strong with this current Berlin government the navigation game is apparently weak — the A100 extension, from Neukölln to Treptow, opened Wednesday but navigation apps apparently didn’t get the memo. They instead continue to send commuters on complex detours, according to Tagesspiegel. Consider it a soft opening — it’s still school holidays. The true test of the new highway will come next month when Google Maps gets on board and the kids are back at their desks.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🪖 Military service bill passes
🥦 Ex-minister Habeck resigns and throws barbs
Factoid
Five years ago, on Aug. 29, 2020, a handful of right-wing anti-corona protestors broke through protest barriers and stormed the Reichstag steps in a bid to take over Germany’s lower house of parliament. They were thwarted at the doors by three police officers. Video from the action is here and the almost-comical move stood in stark contrast to US protestors who stormed the US capitol building just a few months later, leading directly and indirectly to a total of 8 deaths.
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I'm really worried about how Habeck chose one of the more compromised EU nations wrt AI money to visit (Denmark has had at least two ambassadors to Silicon Valley, whatever that means – both have gone to work for Microsoft afterwards IIRC) then one of the most compromised US universities wrt AI / AGI beliefs (thanks Stuart Russell!) I hope he's teaching in these places for some other reason, but we saw a LOT of US $$ going towards trying to influence Germany with respect to the EU's digital governance in the last few years. It's a lot easier to believe in an AGI saviour than to get Germany to deal with the fact that a) cars are over and b) the ones selling what still will get bought will be China for the foreseeable future.
I can't believe DW make jokes like "for boots on the ground we need to reboot" a) at all, b) about war. I kind of love them for it though.