The German Rose of California
Posted on September 24, 2016 by Royal Rosamond Press
What American blogger has blogged on Germany as much as I. I saw this coming. I have no friends and family. No allies – AND NO MONEY! I am battling the richest man in the world. Perhaps he should give me a million dollars before I die on the street, to make it a fair fight?
“He’s dead?! The prophet who saw me – and Trump – coming! He dies of exposure at 78, and he was my greatest foe? Why didn’t anyone tell me!!!! My life is ruined! I dreamt about fighting an old man on a plane of existence very few understand! Now what do I do!”
Give the money back! Launch yourself into space – and don’t’ come back!
John Presco
Von der Leyen demands trigger of emergency clause to massively boost defense spending
European Commission president announces plan at Munich Security Conference.Share
February 14, 2025 2:50 pm CET
By Gregorio Sorgi, Antoaneta Roussi and Joshua Posaner
European Union countries will be able to significantly increase their spending on defense under a plan announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, von der Leyen said she wanted to trigger an emergency clause that would allow governments greater leeway so that military expenditure would not be counted in their tightly controlled budget deficit limits.
“I will propose to activate the escape clause for defense investments,” she said. “This will allow member states to substantially increase their defense expenditure.”
Europe ‘must not be bullied’ by Trump and Musk on tech laws, NGOs say
Letter to Ursula von der Leyen urges European Commission not to weaken enforcement of DSA and DMA
Jennifer Rankin in BrusselsWed 29 Jan 2025 08.12 ESTShare
A coalition of NGOs has urged the president of the European Commission not to be bullied by Donald Trump and Elon Musk into weakening the enforcement of the EU’s tech regulations.
The letter to Ursula von der Leyen comes after the EU executive played down reports that it was reassessing its investigations into Meta, Google and X, following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
In the letter, 39 organisations, mostly NGOs, said big tech leaders were “seeking to mobilise the Trump administration” to protect their ability to exploit users and businesses dependent on them, while seeking to “stifle potential competitors”.
It called on the commission not to weaken enforcement of the Digital Services Act or the Digital Markets Act, two EU laws that came into force in 2022. Meta and X are being investigated under the DSA, which is intended to protect society from online harms, such as disinformation, illegal content and attempts to manipulate public opinion ahead of elections.
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The Digital Markets Act was created to ensure that the biggest tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, do not abuse their powerful position to squeeze out potential competitors.
The EU is under pressure, as US tech billionaires position themselves close to Trump, while attacking European regulations. Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, derided European laws as “censorship” when he announced he was scrapping factcheckers in the US on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Even though the measure applies only in the US, campaigners fear the spread of unchecked English-language content into Europe.
The letter said that big tech companies had already created “an unfair digital economy” that had “directly impacted the dynamism and pluralism of Europe’s economy”.
It went on: “Re-introducing contestability, fairness and choice to the digital market will already be a difficult task. If we pause or weaken enforcement, we risk making it impossible. Europe must not be bullied by the likes of Musk and Trump into weakening its DSA and DMA enforcement.”
Jan Penfrat, a co-organiser of the letter based at the European Digital Rights group, said his organisation was concerned that the commission’s legal services “might not get the political backing and the resources they need to do their job”.
“It is one thing to resist the already massive economic and lobbying power of big tech, but it is a totally different game if those companies can wield the power of the White House to try and prevent the EU from properly enforcing its own tech laws.”
The letter was also sent to two Commission vice-presidents: Teresa Ribera, who is responsible for EU competition policy, and Henna Virkkunen, who leads on DSA and DMA enforcement.
As well as NGOs, it was also signed by a handful of European tech companies and one trade union. The letter also raised concern about X’s use of algorithms to promote certain content, describing the platform under Musk as “serious threat to our democracy and political discourse in Europe”.
Earlier this month, the commission asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether the social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.
The EU’s executive branch told the company it wanted to see internal documents about its “recommender system”, which makes content suggestions to users, and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February.
The European Medicines Agency announced on Monday it was quitting X and opening an account on Bluesky. The EMA, an EU agency based in Amsterdam, said X “no longer suits our communication needs”. The commission and other EU institutions maintain accounts on X, as officials see it as a way to reach an audience.
Musk will face consequences for interfering in German election, says front-runner Merz
The next German government’s response could be political, legal, or possibly target Musk’s gigafactory near Berlin, center-right leader says in interview.ListenShare
February 14, 2025 12:53 pm CET
BERLIN — Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk should be prepared to face consequences for meddling in the German election campaign if he takes office.
“What happened in this election campaign cannot go unchallenged,” Merz, the front-runner from the center-right conservative alliance, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “It can be a political response. It can be a legal response. I want to analyze this calmly after this election campaign.” The country goes to the polls Feb. 23.
Tesla chief Musk caused an outcry in Germany by throwing his weight behind the far-right Alternative for Germany in the run-up to next weekend’s vote.
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He first endorsed the AfD in a post on X, the social media platform he owns, last December. It was followed by a livestreamed chat with party leader Alice Weidel and a virtual appearance at a party conference.
Musk also used X to berate mainstream German politicians, calling center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz a “fool,” while touting the AfD as the only force that can “save” the country.
When asked whether any government response post election could affect Tesla’s gigafactory near Berlin, Merz said: “I am deliberately leaving the consequences open for now.”
The authorities also needed to look into whether Musk’s support for the AfD qualified as an illegal party donation, Merz said, something transparency organizations had previously hinted at.
Musk, who is among U.S. President Donald Trump’s most powerful advisers, has a history of supporting European populist-right politicians, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Based on POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, Merz’s conservatives are in pole position to lead the next government, with around 29 percent support. The AfD is positioned to finish in a strong second place with around 21 percent. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens are in third and fourth place with 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
As all mainstream parties have ruled out governing with the AfD, Merz is most likely to form a coalition with either the SPD or the Greens.
Rosamond Press 
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