Boris Kálnoky, Head of the MCC Media School in Hungary, has written a post for Corvinák pointing out that while the EU is making Hungary’s receipt of EU funds conditional on strengthening the ‘Rule of Law’, it has yet to say anything about a recent law in Germany that will enable the state to sack civil servants accused of not being in accord with the German constitution while bypassing their employment rights.
Germany passed a worrisome law that encourages people to spy on their fellow citizens, and to report on them if they say things that are deemed to be critical of Germany’s ‘constitutional order’.
Initially, the law was just meant to implement an EU directive for the protection of ‘whistleblowers’, if they report on infringements against EU regulations. But the leftwing German government, with last-minute changes to the draft law, turned it into an instrument for a political power grab in Germany. You can read the draft and the changes here.
Crucially, the law stipulates that civil servants, such as policemen and teachers, can be fired without a court decision if they are deemed to be in disaccord with Germany’s fundamental law (the constitution). That is a huge change to the legal status of civil servants who, so far, could only be fired if it was proven in court that they oppose the constitution. With the new rule, that doesn’t need to be proven anymore. Allegations will be enough.
But spying on neighbours will not be limited to state organisations. Companies with at least 50 employees are ordered to create – at their own expense – ‘Meldestellen’ – (‘reporting offices’) were anyone can report anyone if they think they saw, heard or otherwise witnessed something improper. Not something illegal per se – citizens can report incidents that, although not illegal, and perhaps even protected by the fundamental right to freedom of speech, seem to show that someone is critical of Germany’s fundamental law. And that can be enough to fire any civil servant.Victims can fight the decision in court, but at their own expense.
Freedom of speech thus remains protected by the constitution. But if you exercise it, you may lose your job. Not just if you are a civil servant. Or why would the law include private companies? There, as well as in state organisations, ‘whistleblowers’ can denounce their colleagues ‘anonymously’. And from there on, the whistleblower cannot be fired, as long as the report is investigated.
Imagine you are a teacher, and that you dislike another teacher in your school – perhaps because you are also a leftwing activist, and the other comes across as rather conservative. Maybe he said something disparaging about the EU? Or the government? Or the gender debate? Just report him or her.
Or perhaps, in a private company, you envy the job of a colleague and would like it for yourself? Just report them. If you do this to harm someone, and untruthfully, the law to stipulates that you may be punished. But since accusers can remain anonymous, that may never be proven.
Or perhaps you fear that you are about to be laid off in your company for whatever reason? Just report on someone. From then on, until the matter is investigated, you cannot be fired.
Germany’s ‘basic law’ is a fine and fair-minded one. But interpretations can evolve over time. For instance, it prohibits discrimination based on ‘sex’. What the authors of the basic law meant by that was that there should be no discrimination between men and women. Nowadays, a new interpretation of that passage understands ‘sex’ to mean ‘gender’, although that is not legally settled. Now, imagine a colleague at work states that in his view, there are only two biological sexes, and that marriage should be for man and woman. Although that is a perfectly law-abiding view, he may now be reported for deviance from the constitution. This will not have to be proven in court: Some state administration official may decide that that person can no longer serve the state.
At private companies, employers may decide that they they do not want to be seen as a place with a corporate culture that tolerates criticism of ‘diversity’. Although the law says nothing about consequences for anyone deviating from what is regarded to be the spirit of the fundamental law, there may well be very serious consequences in real life.
Finally, for political parties, the law opens up new strategic options in their quest for political power. To pick a party at random, the Greens for instance could decide to strategically place activists in big companies and state institutions (or to activate those who are already there), and then proceed to report anyone who disagrees with them. The result might be a political cleansing of state institutions and big companies.
As for the ‘Rule of Law’, one of it’s conceptual pillars is the assumption of innocence ‘until proven guilty’. The German law turns that on its head: Although legally, you will still be presumed innocent, materially your existence can be destroyed of you are suspected of ‘wrong’ opinions.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Papers from the National Archive reveal that Tony Blair’s Principal Private Secretary wanted to introduce press regulation to force news publishing companies to be more ‘accurate’ when reporting on Government policy. Alarmingly, the official in question was Jeremy Heywood, who went on to become Head of the Civil Service. The Independent has more:
Writing in August 2001, Mr Heywood said: “I assume it is unthinkable to impose accuracy regulation on newspapers?
“No other industry would get away with the practice of making up stories that even our most serious newspapers indulge in.
“Is there no country in the world that has a successful model of newspaper regulation?”
Ed Richards, a policy adviser, warned against such a plan.
“Personally I think it is nigh on impossible to introduce controls on the newspapers of the kind that you propose (and probably suicidal to try),” he wrote back.
Frustration with the press was nothing new among Mr. Blair’s inner circle.
In a presentation to a Cabinet awayday in 1998, the former Prime Minister himself said: “We have a serious problem with a juvenile media.
“The smallest decisions can become big headlines. They refuse to report the substance of what you do.”
Needless to say, invoking ‘accuracy’ as an excuse to censor facts and opinions the state disapproves of is now ubiquitous across Western democracies, with ‘inaccurate’, i.e., inconvenient, content now branded ‘disinformation’. See the Twitter Files for chapter and verse.
Worth reading in full.
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Well I am impressed with this article. It gives a very thorough and up to date overview of the situation in the Netherlands regarding the farming crisis;
”The only way out for farmers seems to be to accept the offer by the government to sell their ownings for 120 percent of the value with a restriction not to be allowed to start another farm within the EU area. Many farmers still refuse the offers made. ‘Even when they pay 400 percent of the value I won’t leave, my son is going to be the next generation farmer.’
The draft agreement does not present information on effects on farmers’ income and consumers’ behavior. The advisory report from Wageningen University and Research (WUR) writes that they cannot advise on this topic as they do not have the information. With the reduction of cattle, farming land and a transition to regenerative farming they will be able to meet the goals on climate change. However, 30,000 jobs will be lost and €6.5 billion of added value.
Dutch citizens will be financing the €28 billion climate plan by extra taxes on food prices for example on milk products, meat, compounds for vegetation protection, and fertilizers while inflation is high and purchases are expensive.
Also, a prepared law for zero taxes on vegetables and fruits to promote healthy foods supposed to pass for January 2024 seems to make a U-turn. According to a report from SEO Economic Research it will be too complex and too expensive and it is not sure the introduction of this law will promote health. However, keeping taxes on vegetables and fruit will generate €550-950 million in income for government.”
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-future-of-traditional-farming-and-healthcare-in-the-netherlands/
Will the changes in Government help bring a halt to this madness ?
Not holding my breath, Freddy. The opposition want Rutte out immediately and a caretaker PM installed until elections take place in the autumn. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any updates in the meantime. Also hopefully JaneDoe might be able to give her insights as I don’t follow politics too closely tbh, but I expect whoever fills Rutte’s shoes to still have the Agenda 2030 requirements very much as their objective.
Yes the WEF maniacs will take some stopping .
https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1731/rr-2
This may be a game changer?
Turns out Pfizer changed it’s manufacturing process between the trial and roll-out.
Change in DNA template for the mRNA and change in LNP manufacturing.
The ‘roll-out’ vaccine was only tested on 250 people.
There is now a question about Informed Consent, as the product changed and the information was based on a different product.
Interesting times.
my apologies if this is old news, I only came across this over the weekend.
Andrew Bridgen and Neil Oliver tried to debate the subject with a doctor on GB News. All the doctor could do was insult people. I’m glad he is not my doctor: –
https://rumble.com/v2yw4ac-andrew-bridgen-mp-and-dr-david-lloyd-discuss-the-pfizer-covid-vaccine.html
It’s often been pointed out but just imagine a non freak person making a similar speech !!!
The sad thing is that the good bishop made a reasonable pastoral point, that in teaching that God is our Father, one has to be aware of those whose earthly fathers or stepfathers have let them down.
But that is a completely different matter from tossing words like “abusive patriarchy” around. The fact that the church of England’s bishops are a disgrace to the gospel doesn’t entail that episcopacy itself is a bad thing, but merely that earthly authority of all kinds can be abused.
Funnily enough, one seldom hears bishops taking a similarly apologetic line on abuse when 1 Peter 2:25 refers to Jesus as “the shepherd and bishop of your souls.”
On the subject of LTNs:
– Eh, what? ‘radicalised groups of people against cycling‘? Where’d he pull that idea from? (No doubt the same place too many government (all levels) ideas are pulled from). I used to work in Southwark twenty-something years ago; some cyclists were a real danger to pedestrians then. LTNs aren’t the cause of people’s disapproval of some cyclists.
– ‘…risk stoking opposition to broader aims such as net zero‘. So, not all bad then?
Substitute ‘Terf’ for the J word (rhymes with huw) and you can see that we’ve been in this situation before. It doesn’t end well.
On a more general note, H L Mencken pointed out in the 1920s that pragmatic politicians inflame anxieties about *or even create a perception of imminent serious harm from) “imaginary hobgoblins”, and then claim success when the harm does not materialise. Eventually the populace realises it has lost power (by more authoritarian legislation) and money (by way of taxes needed to defeat the hobgoblin) and tries to restore the balance, possibly by armed conflict. However, the next generation repeats the process, albeit with different hobgoblins.
Interesting MD4CE meeting yesterday evening, exploring how to disrupt the narrative, presented by Jonathan Engler of HART.
He made some interesting observations about how some individuals on this side of the situation are inadvertently still supporting the narrative. He use Dr McCullough’s ongoing support for the need for pandemic preparedness as an example & some ATL articles on this site. Plus that articles written to counter what was published ATL re no flu in 2020 were denied publication. There were a lot of comments BTL regarding supporting the official limited hangout agenda.
Worth a watch: https://rumble.com/user/cbkovess
“The left’s war on correct grammer has betrayed the poor”
This excerpt is from the CEO of Coca-Cola,
talk about a grammatical word salad! this even has rocket and cold potato thrown in!
“We are keeping consumers at the centre of our innovation and marketing investments, while also leveraging our expertise in revenue growth management and execution.
“Our growth culture is leading to new approaches, more experimentation, and improved agility to drive growth and value for our stakeholders.”
And the translation of all that shyte is as follows:
Mr Quincey added: “There will be price increases across the world in 2023.
Well why didn’t you just say that?
I bet this guy could describe the inside of a ping pong ball using no less than a thousand words!
With pictures.
Here’s the picture, look in-between the next set of brackets!
(
)
Wow that’s realistic!
Don’t ask me how I know.
“If you see a TERF, punch them in the f——— face!”
Said Hitler in drag!
And right there is hate speech!!!
The police reaction???
(Tumbleweed blows past, crickets chirp in the distance!)
This is also incitement to violence. The Home Sec needs to get chief plod in for a severe talking to.
Ooops! Who’d have thunk that the BBC would stoop so low??? Good to see that they’re being called out on this.
(Major sarc alert)
https://insiderpaper.com/syria-revokes-bbc-accreditation-ministry/
So now the BBC is not even honest enough for a country like Syria? Wow, that is low
From today, 10 Jul 2023. File under N.S.S.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/woke-before-wicket/
Cricket – the defining sport of this country, the very essence of Englishness being set up for bastardisation and collapse.
They cannot destroy the country without destroying cricket. Of course the ECB will oblige.
https://off-guardian.org/2023/07/10/the-bbc-nonce-the-acceptable-face-of-pedophelia/
I don’t know who the ‘nonce’ is but Kit Knightly rips into the MSM in a satisfying style.
Well the BBC do have a nonce statue as the main emblem on the front of broadcasting House so what should we expect?
“Hottest days ever? Don’t believe it”
I dont! This record temperature was measured half way up the tailpipe of a F35 jet!