If there are no contingency plans ready to be enacted for that idiot becoming US President again, then shame on every EU country that didn’t prepare any. This Problem was foreseeable well before the first time he got elected, at latest, when he took office for the first time.

You don’t need any hindsight to know what the FDP is going to do when you invite them into government. They will do what they have always done: Maximally corrupt clientele policy for the 1%. That’s what they did the last time they had the chance. And the time before. Whenever they do that, they’ll of course lose popularity, but that won’t hurt them, because the “donations” from their rich clients will keep flowing. They will simply lay low for a few election periods until the public has forgotten what they did and run a flashy campaign specifically targeting dumb first time voters to get back.

Droughts will make flash floods worse, because soil that has dried out completely won’t take in as much water as quickly, as slightly moist soil.

Yes, because they should know best what kind of help they need and where.

Just sending random help that isn’t asked for can even make the situation worse, because the disaster region needs to somehow accommodate the people and equipment being sent.

Isn’t it a bit too late for fears to resurface now? Those fears should have surfaced well before the first time he got elected and shouldn’t have gone away. And they should have been put to good use by taking preparations to prevent any too negative impact of such an election result.

Feel free to steal ours then.

That number is going to rise further, as the clean-up progresses and people so far counted as missing are found (either dead or alive). Also they will certainly find bodies of people nobody has reported as missing yet.

The people behind those talking heads full of nonsense are the clever ones. Just look who is going to profit from one of those deranged fascists running amok. Follow the Money trail, who is bankrolling them? Big businesses don’t give a shit about democracy, but they do love lack of regulation and government control, to maximally exploit their workforce.

If you see a politician licking a toilet, you can at least hope for him to catch some nasty germ. That’s positive, I guess?

There is a German word for people like that: Backpfeifengesicht. (meaning a face made for being slapped)

I’m wondering if there is a Dutch equivalent to this word.

That’s an important realisation. The people who fall for them and do their bidding might be dumb, but the people pulling the strings are anything but dumb. They are just plenty of evil and very skilled at manipulating dumb people. This is what makes the far right so dangerous.

It’s a misconception to take them for dumb, the FDP is very calculating. In 2 or 3 election periods, the public will have forgotten what they did this time, just as the public had forgotten until the last election what they had done the time before. Then they will return and do some more corrupt shit once more.

He belongs to the FDP, the German corruption party that will try to trick dumb first-time voters into voting for them, and then, when they eventually succeed every 3 or so election periods, implement maximally corrupt clientele policy for the ultra-rich, only to sit tight and wait out until the public forgets what they have done to rinse and repeat that very pattern. They have been doing this for decades.

This guy doing some cringeworthy TikTok video is no surprise, and since they are currently in the governing coalition, and on the usual downwards part of their popularity curve, which always happens when they do their thing, he is free to experiment with new ways to trick the next generation of first time-voters, as failure in doing so won’t really hurt the party anyway.

Why only now? They had more than ten years (They should have started preparing before that idiot got elected the first time, he had made his intentions quite clear), and they should have continued preparations since then. If his tenure has shown one thing, then that the US is not a stable democracy nor a reliable ally. As long as he’s alive and can be reelected, he is a threat.

Make them pay the time the commute takes you as if it was working time. You’re only commuting to work for them after all. That will sort the issue once and for all.

forcing some staff to take meetings in the toilets.

Unless a meeting was about that particular toilet and required being held there in order to see an issue to be discussed first hand, I’d absolutely refuse to attend. Are those people out of their mind?

When the Kremlin wants people to vote, this never means anything good.

I guess one distinction we haven’t made is having an alarm vs. having a monitored alarm

For buildings that pose significant hazards in case of a fire (how that is defined depends on the exact state legislation) must have automatic fire alarm systems (similar to what you’re calling “monitored alarms”) that are standardised and hooked up directly to the emergency control centre. If one of those goes off, the relevant fire department will be alerted according to a predefined response plan. Fire insurance might also give clients a discount for installing an alarm system where it’s not mandated by the authorities. Fire insurance for buildings is mandatory.

Does Germany at least require smoke detectors that will alert a building’s occupants, even if the alarm doesn’t send a signal elsewhere?

For buildings where people are present for a prolonged duration, typically, yes, at least for certain rooms. But the details are a little complicated, because public safety is a state matter. So every state has their own fire safety laws, they are similar, but distinctly different. But all states have made domestic smoke detectors mandatory so far, typically the minimum rooms that must have one being staircases, hallways and bedrooms.

Does the 1.1 million firefighters number cover just your professionals or also include the trained volunteers/conscripts

It includes, the 35000 professional firefighters, and another 33000 corporate firefighters. (businesses that pose a significant hazard can be mandated to have a fire department of their own)

Compulsory fire service is an interesting concept.

It’s also very old, In many places, there were medieval fire safety laws that required every household to have a certain number of fire buckets and every able bodied resident to grab that bucket and to come to a prearranged place when the fire bell was being rung.

These days there are only very few compulsory fire departments at any time, as all fire safety laws explicitly state those are a temporary measure with the goal of (re-)establishing a volunteer fire department. In fact very few compulsory fire departments ever came into being due to a genuine lack of people willing to volunteer, most of the time, they have to be created after a dispute between the municipal administration and its volunteer firefighters, ending in the volunteers collectively walking out. In that case, the administration will typically simply conscript its former volunteers, but that doesn’t mean all is good, because if you’re conscripted for service, you have to be compensated for every minute of your time.

Does that force employers to make concessions that might’ve prevented an individual from otherwise being able to volunteer?

Basically, employers are already legally required to let volunteers go and continue paying their salary in case they are alerted. They can reclaim that paid salary from the municipal administration. Theoretically, employers can be fined for not letting their employees leave and technically, even the volunteers are legally required to show up to calls, (There is a saying that goes like “You volunteer to join, you volunteer to quit, everything in between is your duty”) but in practise, quite a bit of slack is cut, in case you are a serial no-show, typically, at some point, your superiors will have a talk with you, and if you keep not showing up for no reason, at some point later, they’ll revoke your active membership status.

If you’re conscripted into a compulsory fire department, you will be fined for not showing up, unless you have a really good excuse. The fines, which are of a more theoretical possibility with volunteers, will be enforced in case an employer refuses to let a conscripted firefighter leave without a good reason.

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Wikipedia actually has an English article on the fire service in Germany, which is a good starting point to learn more. (but feel free to ask more questions anyway) Be aware that the total number of firefighters stated there, over 1.3 million, includes the 270000 members of the volunteer fire departments’ youth groups, which are their main recruiting tool.

I know you’re being sarcastic, but for the sake of people still believing in German efficiency, believe me, it is nothing but a myth.

The inside experience is more one of a Kafkaesque nightmare full of Byzantine bureaucracy where you keep filing all sorts of complicated forms, get them rejected because of a comma in the wrong place, re-file them (of course in triplicate), get them rejected again because of a comma in the right place, re-file once more, only for a deadline to have expired just before, and when you’re finally done with the mountainous amount of paperwork, you’ll be told by some official in no uncertain terms that, despite all the forms, you don’t get to be a cool giant bug as in a proper Kafkaesque nightmare.

This is all wild to me, alarms not required in a building that is largely unoccupied?! Who cares that its purpose is to fight fires? Especially if people aren’t there often it needs an alarm!

Explain such a logical and self explanatory idea to the lawmakers and bureaucrats of 16 different states. If you’re from the US, you will have a quite good understanding of the downsides of federalism yourself.

Typically, automatic alarms are only required in buildings that pose a very significant danger in case of an undetected fire, unfortunately that does not include the indirect danger of not having a fire station anymore after it burns down.

And most of your firefighters are volunteers?

Yes, a legal requirement for having a professional fire department only exists in cities over a certain size. (thanks to federalism and German history, this is a bit location dependent, in the Western states, the magic number is 100000 inhabitants, in the Eastern ones, it’s 50000) Those cities will have a volunteer fire department in addition to the professionals, the way the volunteers are used depends a bit on the city, some will use them as back-up for large incidents, others will use them for specialist roles, while again others will use them for regular coverage outside of normal working hours. (Or any thinkable combination of that) Larger stations in cities under that size limit typically employ a few paid maintenance technicians who will also respond to incidents. (on their own for small things, in combination with the volunteers for larger ones)

Does Germany not need as many firefighters because many buildings are constructed of materials less susceptible to burning?

Germany does have roundabout 1.1 million firefighters in total, the density is pretty high. This is due to the legal requirements of meeting pretty strict response times pretty much in any village, town, and city. The exact times vary a bit from state to state (again our old friend federalism), and some even make a distinction between urban and rural areas, but typically it’s something between 10 and 15 minutes from an emergency being called in (the clock starts ticking the second you dial the emergency number) to the first unit arriving in sufficient strength to do something about it. The measure for sufficient strength, unless there are other dangers, is a “critical dwelling fire” meaning a fire in an inhabited building with person(s) trapped. The absolute minimum to even start dealing with that according to German tactical standards is 6 firefighters. Response time limits for subsequent reinforcements arriving also exist, and requirements for the total strength and equipment of fire department, depending on the hazards present at the municipality in question.

In order to meet that requirement, the preferred way for municipalities smaller than those that require a professional fire department, is having volunteer fire departments, but in case not enough volunteers can be found, they are legally required to conscript able residents for compulsory fire service.