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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   33491 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025

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So, it appears that Germany is following Trump's footsteps with regard to selectively removing foreigners for political speech:

The orders — issued by the state of Berlin, whose Senate administration oversees immigration enforcement — are set to take effect in less than a month. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes.

Some notes:

  • The four people to be deported are citizens of the US, Ireland and Poland. The latter two countries are part of the EU, as is Germany. One of the cornerstones of the EU single market is the free movement of people. It appears to be more of a privilege than a right, actually. For contrast, imagine if Bavaria decided to refuse entry to people from Prussia, or California decided to deport any people born in Texas -- both would be blatantly unconstitutional.
  • This decision was made by the city of Berlin, which is ruled by a coalition of CDU/SPD (convervative/labor) -- the same constellation which will rule Germany in the future. The CDU is basically trying to rebrand itself as AfD light -- adopting policies suggested by the far right. (The AfD is of course very opposed to anything which could be considered pro-Muslim antisemitism. Not that they are overly fond of holocaust memorials, though.) The SPD is notorious for lacking any organ resembling a spine, so it is unsurprising that they went along with it.
  • The targeted people were accused of participating in a pro-Gaza demonstration. Some where accused of shouting "From the river to the sea", which is illegal in Germany (and I am ok with it being illegal). However, none of them have been convicted so far.

Now, I am not per-se against deporting foreigners if they have been convicted of a serious offense, say if their prison sentences exceed 10% (or 20%) of the time they have spent in the host country so far. From what I can tell, most of the accusations here are very minor, though. Using immigration laws to sidestep due process is wrong, though.

Also, for EU citizens, expelling them should additionally be contingent on a separate court case in front of some EU court and subject to criminal standard of evidence. If Berlin wants to get rid of these people, let them argue why they are a hazard to their security in front of a judge.

For contrast, imagine if Bavaria decided to refuse entry to people from Prussia, or California decided to deport any people born in Texas -- both would be blatantly unconstitutional.

If Bavaria were actively removing people from Prussia it would likely go over very poorly, as the victims would exclusively be senior citizens.

“Get in zee van, Opa!”

And Germany’s wealthy, Catholic hillbillies don’t have to worry about denying entry to anyone coming from a deceased polity.

I used Prussia because Bavarian natives have a tendency to use the word Preiß (Prussian) for Germans from the northern half of Germany, often in the term Saupreiß (pig Prussian).

I am often surprised at the complete lack of Bavarian separatism.

I am not in the least surprised at how angry a citizen of Baden-Wurttemburg gets if you mistake them for a Bavarian

I mean, southerners being called Yankees…

There's an excellent, old James Cagney comedy, One, Two, Three, where Cagney is a Coca-Cola executive stationed in Cold War Berlin (before the wall went up). The big boss in Atlanta's teenage daughter is going to be visiting Berlin, and Cagney gets put in charge of hosting and keeping an eye on her.

She falls in love with an East German communist, and after visiting him, returns back to West Berlin with a balloon from a parade. Cagney scolds her, noting her father would be furious if he saw it, as it has "YANKEE GO HOME" printed on it -- to which the daughter replies, "Oh, no. Daddy hates Yankees."

I know what I'm watching this weekend. Every quote makes that movie sound hilarious

The pacing as it accelerates towards the resolution is great, as is Arlene Francis as a supporting actress.

On top of this they're still salty about being merged together. The rivalry between VfB Stuttgart and Karlsuher SC is downstream of it.

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