Tabloid Tuesday
- There's some frightening similarities between the so-called "Döner Kebab Killer" and the Beltway snipers from 2002 (targets chosen at random, [probably] two men working in tandem, illegally-owned weapons), but the national motivations of the former, slowly and methodically playing out over the past six years, make things a bit worse. Although the pressure in D.C. was overbearing, the killers were going for money -- they sought to extort $10 million from the government. This guy just seems to want revenge.
- The director of Head On has gotten into hot water over a t-shirt that depicts the "s" in "Bush" with a swastika:
"Bush's policies are comparable to those of the Third Reich," Akin told the German weekly Der Spiegel. "I believe that films are being produced in Hollywood on behalf of the Pentagon in order to normalize things such as torture and Guantanamo."
Wow, what a martyr! Finally, a true political statement. Of course, famous people don't go to jail for three years for something like that, but for such a spurious comparison, let's make an exception. And what irony, if the guy who pressed charges was nationally motivated?
- A pensioner was handing out €13,000. Was it drunkenness, or a temporary loss of Germanity? Plus, once again, who is the whistleblower who's got a problem with someone giving money away? Does a society need to be this orderly?
- We end today's bizarrerie with a bomb threat that was actually just a wrong number with a bad accent. Maybe the reason we hear about all these silly, minute little tales in Germany is because things are too well-planned to be truly newsworthy -- or so well-planned that they are a bit chilling. What can one do when the Döner Kebab Killer comes for them?