jope

Apparently, Julianna Margulies commented that she will be unemployed in April, which is interpreted as confirmation that The Good Wife is on its last leg and will be cancelled soon. Sorry to hear that. I enjoyed it through all seven seasons.

German made War movies

I found this list of a Top Ten German War movies. It is a personal reviewers opinion, but some decent looking movies on the list.

Anyone know any more good German war movies?

Here is the list and link:

1. Die Brücke aka The Bridge (1959):

2. Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben aka Dogs, do you want to live forever – Stalingrad (1959):

3. Das Boot (1981):

4. Stalingrad (1993):

5. NaPolA aka Before the Fall (2004):

6. Der Untergang aka The Downfall (2004):

7. Joyeux Noël aka Merry Christmas (2005):

8. Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage aka Sophie Scholl (2005):

9. Anonyma – Eine Frau n Berlin aka Anonyma – The Downfall of Berlin(2008) :

10. Der rote Baron aka The Red Baron (2008):

http://allaboutwarmovies.com/2010/10/26/10-german-war-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/

Not a movie, but a 3-part TV mini series:

Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (Our Mothers, Our Fathers = Generation War, from 2013)

Highly controversial: does the production describe how a dictatorial system compromises harmless people or is it too forgiving or even propaganda (as the New York Times saw it)? Either way, fantastic audience rate for the German ZDF at the time (ZDF is not a private but a public service television station).

with subtitles:

Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter - Part 1

Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter - Part 2

Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter - Part 3

The trouble is that those who do the stabbing know that they are going to die,it means nothing to them because they believe that they will go on to live in their idea of heaven,while they have this medieval mindset,nothing but death will stop their lunacy

So does she get 72 boy-virgins too?

I guess it will be 72 narrow-hipped, broad-shouldered 9/11 firemen. Doubt that the firemen will like to go out with a child, though.

Is that regulated in the Sharia somehow (I mean, the female martyr thing, not the child molesting)?

This is a translation of a Spiegel Magazine news-clip from 16.07.1964 (not a typo: Nineteen Sixty-four) here (in German)

The Brown Flood

Parisian girls have been put off going for a swim. Wherever a single Bikini is seen swimming it will soon be surrounded and accosted by brownish swimmers. Ten, twenty Algerian hands will tear at the straps of the bathing costume and bereave its wearer of anything textile.

Especially on weekends jumped-up North-Africans dominate the Parisian basins, the rather feudal bath Deligny just like the suburb basin of Puteaux. Result: there are no girls bathing on these days, their male companionship will abstain as well. Robust pool attendants daring to step in will be assailed by hostile hordes when leaving work.

After having been routed by the Algerians from Algeria, Frenchmen now find themselves pushed from the pools of their capital as well. Little chance of that getting remedied. Day for day, 600 Algerians leave the country of Ben Bellas, plagued by joblessness and inflation, to win their bread working for their former colonial masters.

The dried-up French labour market easily absorbed thousands, but the flood rose steadily: 1956 there were 300,000 Algerians in France, start of 1964 it were 600,000. Today, 30,000 are jobless and live of French welfare. 13,000 beds in French hospitals are occupied by Algerians.

Parisian police soon were faced with the task to handle a colony of 200,000 Algerians, who while nominally constituting only 3 percent of the capital’s inhabitants, were responsible for

- 32 percent of all murders

- 39 percent of all car thefts

- 58 percent of all thefts involving a gun

[snip… half the article deals with health authorities and what diseases were suddenly being carried into France and how they shunned being seen to discriminate against anyone, rendering most measures ineffective]

The brown will go on frolicking in the capital’s pools to get a grip on girls bathing there. The unaccustomed view on skimpy bikinis allows for a glimpse at joys otherwise hard to find for them: There are only 40,000 women among the 600,000 French-Algerians.

It's really astounding how the same problem was already there more than 50 years ago. And what language you could use back then, and how you could actually call a problem a problem.

And with a view to how splendidly immigration from these parts of the world turned out for France in their banlieus, what makes us think it we can make it work for us today?

To my mind, asylum is one thing, immigration another. There should be a policy for both, and they should not be conflated, as Merkel does it.

I found that surprising, too. From the very first moment politicians spoke about immigration and integration while at the same time calling people refugees and asylum seekers. If they are refugees or asylum seekers, they are supposed to leave, once the situation in their home country has sufficiently increased. In that moment the reason for their stay is simply gone. And a respective immigration law could clarify, which qualifications applicants must fulfill to stay.

BTW, liked the "survival of the fittest"-notion.

Just some Doco’s that I had viewed last year—(some of them are a lot older than that—but I have just got around to viewing them) so, if they have already been mentioned or recommended –Then sorry I missed those posts.

HBO- Gideon's Army https://torrentz.eu/c6d29f8fdee19f5a7c1b8dfcd1c7bbd4e2fbda43

In 1961 Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested for stealing a can of soda & $5 from a pool hall. Being too poor to pay for counsel, Gideon was forced to defend himself at his trial after being denied a lawyer by his trial judge, & was given 5 years. Gideon, then in jail, studied the American legal system and came to the conclusion that Judge McCrary had violated his constitutional right to counsel—the short version of this is that his appeals took him all the way to the Supreme Court—where he argued & won 9-0 that a common person was at a disadvantage arguing against a trained lawyer.

And so was formed the people who call themselves Gideon’s Army --The public defenders, this small group (15,000) represent Millions of defendants each year. HBO looked at 3 of them; they are underfunded, with hugh caseloads….sometimes up to 150-180 clients at any one time. There is a lot of pressure for their clients to plead guilty etc.

It’s a long –long way from the “Dream Team” that OJ had.

I found it quite watchable—HBO do their usual professional job at making these Docs.

Tales of the.Grim.Sleeper.2014--- https://kat.cr/usearch/Tales%20of%20the%20Grim%20Sleeper/

This is HBO –but for some reason that they don’t explain, they brought a team of British Jurno’s over to do the story (Sky-Atlantic )—there are 2 movies out about it, but in both the people work with the L.A. police—The British Jurno’s do not & they were quite critical of the police work, so were not granted any interviews.

So how can someone walk around their neighbourhood & for 25 years, kill 100-180 Girls. (The LA police are holding him for the death of 10 girls, but say it could be up to 100---however he has books of photos of 180 girls none which the police have been able to trace) So how can you? According to the local community the answer may lay in the type of people he killed -Black/ Crack head/ prostitutes. The figures are even more disturbing when you realize he was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because he appears to have taken a 14-year slumber from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002 Then started up again….same MO same gun etc. They arrested him in 2010, & 6 years latter have still not brought him to court—that in itself must be some sort of record.

I didn’t know the story so I found it quite a compelling watch—as the jurno’s had no help from the police they turned to taking the local Crack head/Prostitutes around in their car for small payments—which had its own black humor. –but amazingly within 2 weeks had found several witnesses, girls how had been tied up raped, had their photo taken but had then managed to escape. They also managed to get an interview with his son, by sending a crack head in to speak with him---someone no one had interviewed before.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HBO 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets—2015 https://torrentz.eu/5c3632537cc3e03d8ed65c959a33f855c1431c00

It’s the day after Thanksgiving November 2012, four boys in a red SUV pull into a gas station after spending time at the mall buying sneakers and talking to girls. With music blaring loudly, one boy exits the car and enters the store, a quick stop for a soda. A man and a woman pull up next to the boys in the station, making a stop for a bottle of wine. The woman enters the store and an argument breaks out when the driver of the second car asks the boys to turn the music down. They don’t & speak back disrespectfully the guy losses his temper, reaches into his glove compartment--3½ Minutes, & Ten Bullets latter one of the boys who was about to start collage is dead. The SUV pulls away to another part of the station to call the police & ambulance.

The court case becomes a “He said”—“They Said”

He said they pointed a gun at him & he acted in self-defense ---they said they do not have any guns---He said they must have dumped the gun somewhere when they drove off.

If you don’t follow the American news closely ( I don’t) & if you don’t know the result of the trial, it’s a quite gripping watch, I really didn’t know which way the jury would swing until the end.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BBC -- The.Eichmann.Show.2015 https://torrentz.eu/068e663fc7ec27dbe0a663f27cd53bc21eac0286

It’s really 2 stories—The Trial of Eichmann after he was Kidnapped (or Captured) & brought back from South America---& the fight by Milton Fruchtman,--to keep it on American TV as Audience figures plummeted. First he employs the formerly blacklisted (left wing) director Leo Hurwitz, but the trial was all being interpreted from Hebrew to English—it’s dry—it’s boring. On one station they are losing audience share to Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight, the very first man in Space, & also on the other station Fidel Castro is running around taking over Cuba—all of it live. While at the trial the prosecution is getting bogged down with Eichmann----- Eichmann was head of transportation & the deportation in Germany, that much was known, how could he be blamed for what went on inside a concentration camp he argued.

They needed something that would grab their Audience share back---or the plug would be pulled on it.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler—to say what that was…its history I am sure everyone knows what happened mid trial to change all that & the ratings. But in case they don’t I’ll leave it.

2 really good actors-- Martin Freeman as --Milton Fruchtman & Anthony LaPaglia played- Leo Hurwitz,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meant to post 9 Doc's but ran out of time.....(slow at typing) ....will do the rest latter...............

British Jurno's letting their crack head informant drive the car around in LA as payment---"Tales of the grim sleeper"....

Great list!

Found "The Eichmann Show" rather good. Normally, I do not watch drama that has the holocaust as its main theme. I think the only cinematic way to cover KZ-horror is documentation (not minding anybody watching "Holocaust" or "Schindlers List", though. It's just not for me). But this was more about the trial and it's importance for the public in Israel and all over the world, but certainly including some moving scenes.

Liked the "Tales of the Grim Sleeper". Seems that LAPD has a few officers who do not deserve to be called Police ("NHI", seriously?).

Where is the rest of your list?

No, sorry!! Apart from Russell Crowe!!

Whatever he says or does or messes up, for me he will always be the "Gladiator".

No comparison between The Revenant and Fury Road ! The Revenant is the best movie to come out in a long time, and deserves many awards, fantastic movie

While watching The Revenant, I was actually afraid at a certain point that I might have nightmares when going to sleep (fortunately, that did not happen ).

For those interested in movies and TV:

Thai Visa Forum - What Movies or TV-Shows Are You Watching Now?

(Quote)

understandable

if the German people cannot get hold of the real culprits (Merkel, Gruene and their likes)

how can they make clear what they want?

understandable

if the German people cannot get hold of the real culprits (Merkel, Gruene and their likes)

how can they make clear what they want?

(/Quote)

I disagree. In my experience those people are cowards who see an opportunity to hurt somebody and think they can get away with it because it is somehow "understandable" or even justified. Not less despicable than those thugs from new years eve.

Right now it is the gangs and Skinheads. But soon it will be the Fathers and Mothers and Uncles, who are Bankers, Bakers, Teachers, and all Normal Germans; if these Muslims keep raping the German girls !

I guess, that is how propaganda language works: from two cases of rape reported to the police to "if these muslims keep raping German girls!".

Or Propaganda can work by a government suppressing the truth, ensuring only pc reports are delivered in the media, obscuring statistics that don't present the required outcome, pressuring the police to lie, change reports, not report reality.

The initial reports were pc and immigrants are shown in a good light, with carefully selected photos of families and young children.

Politicians lie, follow their own agendas and many in the EU want to destroy its centuries old cultures so they can rebuild it as they see fit. Here is a good example of the people finding out that government propaganda would have whitewashed those events given a chance. Hopefully they will hold the politicians accountable.

Propaganda works both ways, agreed. And if we ignore right hate and left PC we come to the conclusion that "these muslims" do not mass-rape German girls. Those individuals who commit crimes will be treated accordingly. You will find very few people of muslim believe who would not agree to that (hm, was it actually necessary to say that?).

There will be elections in seven German states this year. I guess, it will show where the German people stand when it comes to asylum and refugees.

understandable

if the German people cannot get hold of the real culprits (Merkel, Gruene and their likes)

how can they make clear what they want?

I disagree. In my experience those people are cowards who see an opportunity to hurt somebody and think they can get away with it because it is somehow "understandable" or even justified. Not less despicable than those thugs from new years eve.

Right now it is the gangs and Skinheads. But soon it will be the Fathers and Mothers and Uncles, who are Bankers, Bakers, Teachers, and all Normal Germans; if these Muslims keep raping the German girls !

I guess, that is how propaganda language works: from two cases of rape reported to the police to "if these muslims keep raping German girls!".

understandable

if the German people cannot get hold of the real culprits (Merkel, Gruene and their likes)

how can they make clear what they want?

I disagree. In my experience those people are cowards who see an opportunity to hurt somebody and think they can get away with it because it is somehow "understandable" or even justified. Not less despicable than those thugs from new years eve.

"Der Spiegel" reports that North-Rhine-Westfalia Minister of the Interior Ralf Jaeger assigned the Head of Cologne Police, Polizeipräsident Albers, to non-active status ("einstweiliger Ruhestand").

Cologne Police was heavily criticized by politicians and the public for not doing a proper job. It seems that a few of the officers who were actually on duty that night got a bit upset and told the media their version of the events. In short: highly aggressive people working together to assault and steal and to prevent police from helping. Although understaffed, Police arrested/detained more than 70 people. According to these police sources, only very few of the detained/arrested people were from North-Africa. Quite a number (no specifics given) were Syrian refugees according to the documents they showed (registration as asylum seekers).

I guess, the incoming Head of Cologne Police will request more than the usual number of riot police units for Carnival next month.

From a report dated January 8, No mention of 'aggressive drunks' as previously reported

German federal police said they had identified 32 people who were suspected of playing a role in the violence, 22 of whom were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany.

The federal police documented 76 criminal acts, most them involving some form of theft, and seven linked to sexual molestation. Of the 32 suspects, nine were Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian, and four Syrian. Three German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a U.S. citizen were also identified.

These alleged criminals are going to turn the host population against asylum seekers / Muslims.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-assaults-idUSKBN0UM0U420160108

I think it is rather difficult to get "real" numbers. There is an official report from the federal police and there are official and leaked reports from the state police and leaked information from officers involved.

What I found rather irritating is the blame game. "Of course" it had to be the police that failed. But from own experience I know how difficult it is to handle such an unorganized and chaotic mass event and that really all officers do their best to pull it off. It does not become better when I read that the respective police coordination department offered Cologne Police a full riot police unit for back up but the offer was rejected. And later the officer in charge allegedly refused to include the nationalities of the suspects into the final report (if he did, I would not really blame him, latest at ministry level somebody would have deleted it anyway and would have told him off). So, for me in this specific situation it is more about the officers on the front line who do their best and in return are even insulted for their engagement. Provocative question: would there be such a public outcry, if there had been more than 100 crime reports involving men being pushed and stolen from instead of women being harassed? Just wondering...

I also think that this event will turn some moderate people against refugees now. I do not think that that is a good thing.

Watch out for the dvd screener of Sisters…for once, someone has really committed a crime by releasing this to the public.

hehehe..i put that in my queue today

Yes, you really picked them right recently.

Watched the pilot of Second Chance.

Sheriff Jimmy Pritchard, old, disgraced and forced to retire, is brought back to life after he was murdered. He is supposed to help the terminally ill sister of a socially challenged genius scientist. Unfortunately, Sheriff Jimmy Pritchard (like that name) was dismissed for good reasons ("I did what I had to do" - read: he planted evidence). And according to a computer analysis his desire for law enforcement comes fourth after women, booze and music.

It seems that they do not take themselves too serious. If they continue like that, the show might be good fun (could also become total crap, though). I will give it a shot.

A couple of movies just available

Ashby

Mickey Rourke is good in this one.Also has Nat Wolff and Emma Roberts. Comedy drama style. Dramedy? 5.5/10 High-school student Ed Wallis enters into a friendship with his neighbor, Ashby, a retired CIA assassin who only has a few months left to live.

Mercury Plains

Low budget awful stuff. Has Scott Eastwood in who is quite good. Eastwood joins a crew in Mexico who rip off drug dealers. Not a lot makes sense with this one. 2/10

Watched "Ashby" on the flight back to Europe. I support your 5.5 , seems rather accurate. But I doubt that I would have watched it without Rourke in it. I wonder: is that all wigs and make-up or does he actually look like that? Anyway, perfect for the character.

"Der Spiegel" reports that North-Rhine-Westfalia Minister of the Interior Ralf Jaeger assigned the Head of Cologne Police, Polizeipräsident Albers, to non-active status ("einstweiliger Ruhestand").

Cologne Police was heavily criticized by politicians and the public for not doing a proper job. It seems that a few of the officers who were actually on duty that night got a bit upset and told the media their version of the events. In short: highly aggressive people working together to assault and steal and to prevent police from helping. Although understaffed, Police arrested/detained more than 70 people. According to these police sources, only very few of the detained/arrested people were from North-Africa. Quite a number (no specifics given) were Syrian refugees according to the documents they showed (registration as asylum seekers).

I guess, the incoming Head of Cologne Police will request more than the usual number of riot police units for Carnival next month.

tbh not a sci fi or fantasy fan ,imo it aint moved on from the 70's ,, but thats another debate but will it watch when forced,, ie its that good its unmissable ... Hugely conflicting reports on this one

The Shannara Chronicles

imbdb 8.6 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051220/

meta critic reviwers average 49 !!!! http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-shannara-chronicles

anyone watching this series ?

Tried it , wow i gave it the highest score i could 1/10 , mind you now come to think of it ,thats a bit high .

Trolls, magic, elves, demons, a cast similar to "the 100", loud foreground music, almost no sense of humor. But the girls are cute and sometimes wear shiny dresses. I mean, that counts for something, right?

Completely agree with your rating. Well, it's MTV (they still exist?).

Commentators say the decisions deal a double blow to Europes fraying passport-free Schengen Area as it attempts to deal with a record influx of migrants.

this is BS.

why not just let countries do border checks and let all European citizens and legal residents pass freely with their passport / id card / residency permit ?

where is the problem?

was Schengen made to facilitate travel of illegals or what?

if I was one of those ministers I would also start checking IDs in trains, buses, random checks on highways... security of citizens first.

But that is exactly the point: traveling freely without the obligation to produce ID. More importantly: border controls have a serious economic effect. Delayed freight deliveries cost a lot of money. Why do you think there are no border controls between the different states of the USA?

Why is it a problem for the Schengen arrangement? If you have a valid ID/visa then surely it is through you go?

It is a problem because there are NO border controls. The EU have been crying because the UK insist on border controls and better rules on migration, NOW they have big problems because no one knows where all the "refugees" are AND who is going to pay for them.

There already are several German cities that are bankrupt over refugees.

The fact is, why should we even think about taking millions of economic Muslim migrants into Europe.

AND it should be noted that when the dust has settled the 2 million male migrants will insist on bringing their 20 million relatives over as well. (after all it is their human rights)

The EU need to start working on a plan to repatriate migrants who are not refugees, these are the men and boys traveling with no family. SEND THEN BACK TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES. Shia to Iran Sunnis to Saudi

As has been pointed out in previous threads:

Only spouses and their under age children will be permitted to follow. Looking at the age of the refugees I doubt that many of them are married and have children. An estimate of 20 million seems to be a tiny bit over the top.

Pacta sunt servanda!

All EU-member states signed the EU-treaties and by that they gave up parts of their sovereignty. The Commission is the guardian of the treaties. That is their first and most important task and responsibility. So, the Commission does not ask or beg member states to come and follow the rules. The Commission calls them in. If member states refuse to follow, the Commission will finally bring the matter to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and sue respective member states including, of course, Germany.

Pacta sunt servanda^#, yes, until there is a laesio enormis^##, i.e. an enormous unanticipated change to the basic that agreement rested on.

That concept is commonly written down in civil laws in a generalized way, e.g. when you can repossess your rented out flat or fire your worker for breach of contract,

but there also is an overarching principle covering cases when it would not be fair to insist on an agreement. In British law that is called a promised estoppel, in

Germany you might find recourse in Treu und Glauben or Positive Vertragsverletzung, §242 BGB.

As the Schengen agreement was based on the assumption there would be common European borders that were guarded in an acceptable way and that obviously

ceased to be the case and is something the Scandinavian states cannot control themselves, they and everybody else might well be entitled to go back on that agreement.

If you were to lend your car to a friend for the weekend and were to find out your friend had suddenly (after the fact) decided to use that car for illegal car racing, you'd

be going back on that lending agreement, wouldn't you?

^# agreements must be kept

^## an enourmous breach or s.th. to that effect, a drastic change in circumstances

Would not argue that!

I was more referring to the "sovereign state, they cannot tell us anything"-notion and the role that the Commission plays within the EU.

And if there was a lawsuit (can't see that either), Luxembourg might even surprise everyone with the arguments you just pointed out. But I think the Commission just wants to be convinced that the border controls will be temporary and that Europe is not going down the drain, a concern I do not share completely. I am still convinced that we will manage.

"Government ministers from Denmark, Sweden and Germany have been called to Brussels for a meeting on Wednesday."

"Have been called". They should remind them that they are sovereign countries and tell them to flap off.

The "tone" coming out of Brussels - calling these Ministers, threatening Poland, etc has hardened since Merkel's puppet Juncke became President.

Of course, the more they act like a Federal Government the more people will believe they actually are. And that suits both.

Don't be surprised if Sweden and Denmark are told off, whereas Germany is dealt with sympathetically.

Overt favoritism and hypocrisy is a common trait for Brussels.

Calling Juncker "Merkel's puppet" is an interesting choice of words considering that she strongly supported British reservations at the time and tried everything to prevent Juncker from becoming President of the Commission. Well, whatever you wish to believe...

Pacta sunt servanda!

All EU-member states signed the EU-treaties and by that they gave up parts of their sovereignty. The Commission is the guardian of the treaties. That is their first and most important task and responsibility. So, the Commission does not ask or beg member states to come and follow the rules. The Commission calls them in. If member states refuse to follow, the Commission will finally bring the matter to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and sue respective member states including, of course, Germany.

Is Norway involved in this as well?

If not they should be ?

Nice try, but next time better get your geography in order.

For Americans, Norway, Sweden, and Finland are all one place in the mind. But you're right, Stockholm is not Mecca either.

Bonus points for not ducking out.

Used to show passport all the time travelling in Europe in those good old days, no problem, kind of was exciting.

Yes, it was so exciting to sit in the car for hours until we reached the border control, even when just traveling from Germany to Austria or Holland.

And these exciting news on the radio when they announced the hours or days that truck drivers had to wait until they finally could continue delivering their freight to a neighboring country.

That's a new one: Merkel was member of the Stasi? [emoji1]

Do you know her Stasi-alias? I would really like to know. [emoji23]

The most popular claim is that it was Erika. The story seems to have been around for some time.

Thanks.

A brief look at the "sources" and everybody knows how serious the accusations are.